# What the HAIL?? \*Bizarre\* wild storm in SoCal--lots of pics **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 24, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448 "2008-05-24T03:07:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/1 "2008-05-24T03:07:53Z")
Just for the record: It’s mid-May. In _Southern California_. It was **101 degrees** this past Saturday. While driving to work on Thursday, I heard them say there was a chance of showers in the afternoon. My thought was an eyebrow-raising :dubious: “Rain?” …But then I figured they meant something along the lines of the drizzle that we get this time of year from the heavy marine layer. No. Oh, no. It wasn’t that. But I don’t think even the “they” people thought it would be…[THIS.](http://deathllama.com/Bizarre%20storm1_2_1.JPG) That’s not snow, folks. That’s HAIL. Marble-sized hail. And a lot of it. That was the view from our school library. I took photos and videos from my camera phone, but the librarian apparently grabbed one of the school digital cameras and got these pics. In 21 years in Southern California, I have never, ever seen ANYthing like this. Hell (or is it “hail”?), I don’t think I ever saw anything like this in Indiana, except maybe a few wild thunderstorms that brought tornados to the area–but I have no memory of hail accumulating on the ground. It started during 6th period (thank GOD I have 6th period prep). It started raining. Huh, I think. Then the hail started–small pebble-sized ones. Neat, I think, and weird. But it kept going. And going. And the rain came harder, and harder, and harder…I never knew water could fall out of the sky with so much force! And the hail kept coming–the few hail storms I’m seen in SoCal have last 2-3 minutes…I swear it went on for 45 minutes yesterday. It just would not stop–and then, when you thought it might be done, it would come down harder, and the hail would be larger. There are no words sufficient to describe this–photos will tell the story. [This is not far from my classroom](http://deathllama.com/Bizarre%20storm2_4_1.JPG)–I’m one hallway over to the right. That’s standing water–a LOT of it–with hail floating in it. A [haildrift](http://deathllama.com/Bizarre%20storm3_5_1.JPG)…we had these everywhere from where the hail poured off the overhangs. Some of them were over 18" deep–and some were still there this morning. This is what it looked like–[a big white blur](http://deathllama.com/Bizarre%20storm5_7_1.JPG). That’s my classroom door open there on the left–I’m probably in front of the door, not that you can tell. I neglected to mention the thunder–the big red cell was right on top of us, so thunder and lightning were simultaneous. The power was knocked out for a few minutes, frying the phone system, computer system, and even the intercoms were honked up (and still are). The computer lab my 5th period students had been in had a partial roof collapse (we’re talking the ceiling tiles, insulation, etc. coming down); at least six of the 30 computers are completely ruined, and the rest likely are too. I hear the classroom adjoining it was hit worse–she had 3" of standing water in it \*this morning. \* [View of the icy lake that formed between the office (visible) and library](http://deathllama.com/Bizarre%20storm6_8_1.JPG). ALL grassy areas looked like this. Compare this with the first pic–even MORE hail has accumulated in the haildrifts. Normal dismissal time is 2:35pm; teachers were instructed to keep kids until told otherwise (which of course is hard to communicate when 2 of the 3 systems are knocked out, and the 3rd is damaged). We didn’t let them go until 3:05pm, and it was STILL raining hard then. Several kids today came with soaked homework–I obviously gave everyone a free pass on it. The scary thing is, the roads looked about like this. A lot of the streetlights were knocked out. Cars coming to school had a thick layer of hail on them (my truck bed had quite a bit). I was in NO hurry to leave. Thankfully, though it rained hard at my son’s preschool, it wasn’t crazy like this…so RuffLlama was fine, and DeathLlama was able to pick him up. It’s still cold and rainy today, amazingly. Our high temperature today was about 40 degrees lower than Monday’s. Seriously, seriously bizarre weather. Wow. And… **NEAT!** 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/2 "2008-05-24T03:30:37Z")
That’s a LOT of hail! ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/3 "2008-05-24T03:36:38Z")
Weird. We didn’t get hail, but we’ve gotten short little showers. I was taking a nap yesterday and was like ‘wait, that sounds like rain. Meh, not getting up.’ (I was tired, darnit) I kinda wish it would rain a bit harder because my car needs a bath. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/4 "2008-05-24T03:54:41Z")
That doesn’t look like hail. That looks like winter. Wow. Anyone else reminded of that scene in _The Day After Tomorrow_ where the Maverick Scientist leaves the climate-change conference in Delhi and goes outside to discover that it is snowing? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/5 "2008-05-24T04:18:15Z")
The building I used to work in about 10 years ago was completely demolished by a tornado yesterday. They were showing helicopter footage of the aftermath on TV last night and I thought “Holy shit, I’d be dead.” ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/6 "2008-05-24T04:26:10Z")
It was 109° for a high here on Monday, and 72° for the high today. Now, that’s weird. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/7 "2008-05-24T04:30:39Z")
Hell, we had _tornadoes_! :eek: Seriously weird weather for SoCal. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/8 "2008-05-24T04:36:29Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] It was 109° for a high here on Monday, and 72° for the high today. Now, that’s weird. [/QUOTE] Parts of the valley hit 111 Monday! And now this. I got a little bit of hail at my house shortly after getting home from work today. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/9 "2008-05-24T09:06:47Z")
We sometimes saw some pretty heavy hail in Texas; it often meant a tornado was a real possibility. I don’t remember seeing it quite as heavy as those pictures, but I have seen it pile up around buildings. I’ve also seen hail heavy enough to put a bunch of little dents in cars. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/10 "2008-05-24T13:26:17Z")
We had hail like that down here in San Diego about…5 or 6 years ago. It blew me away, and I did exactly the same thing - took pictures. It was hard to believe there was so much hail on the ground that it looked like snow. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/11 "2008-05-24T18:02:12Z")
I was at home feeling sick, so I missed the hailstorm. I did hear thunder, and my daughter was surprised to look out the sliding-glass door and see rain and sunshine at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/12 "2008-05-24T19:03:02Z")
Yeah, I heard about tornadoes in the Lake Elsinore area. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/13 "2008-05-24T22:41:13Z")
Two years ago (almost exactly two years ago actually) I was sitting in Ontario CA, waiting at the light to get on the 15. So not only was I in sunny southern CA, I was out in the Inland Empire, which is typically 10 to 15 degrees hotter than closer to the coast. It had been freaking hot all day, but muggy. Very, strangely muggy and humid. It started to rain…but it was more like the air was misty than falling rain. And then hail stones the size of marbles began to pelt the car. I was stunned, to stay the least. And also scared for my car, because I thought for sure the paint would chip or the windshield would crack or something. I had never seen hail like that before in my life. It probably lasted for about 8 minutes, and the road was just covered in white. By the time I got on the 15 and made it out towards San Bernardino, it had stopped and everything was back to muggy and hot. But I don’t think I had ever gone through a stranger weather system in So Cal. As for current strange weather, on Monday it was ninety-five degrees in Salt Lake City, with an overnight low of 81. It does get that warm in SLC, but usually in July or August, that’s definitely not common for spring. By Wednesday, the high was 51 degrees. A difference of 44 degrees in less than 72 hours. Now it’s freaking cold here again. ---
**Author:** ![ming\_the\_merciless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@ming\_the\_merciless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ming_the_merciless)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hail-bizarre-wild-storm-in-socal-lots-of-pics/450448/14 "2008-05-24T23:22:22Z")
hmmm i must remember to turn that damn dial to hot :smack: