Hail -- TWICE in 7 days!

Sept 13, Wednesday  ~2:30
Hail!?!!  There was a chance of rain, but the hail was unexpected.  Weird and startling, but it did come as part of a desperately needed break in the heat.  The rain was brief and the hail pellets small.  And we really needed the precipitation.

That episode did NOT prepare us for the pounding we got Monday afternoon. ~3:45 I was on day one, getting back to walking during my late lunch hour (after 2 months of emergency heat mitigation).  There were some rain clouds SW, but over the weekend I sat and watched as a very promising batch of juicy rain clouds got ALMOST overhead (thunder rumbling), then sidled around us with not so much as a drop.  I thought about getting my huge, fabulous golfing umbrella.  Then thought, "Stupid weather.  Come and get me."  >Note: it ALMOST did.

On the way back from my walk along the ditch, with 4 block to go, I started hearing a strange noise from the south.  Like a train along the tracks, which we do have here, but straight east towards the interstate and the mountains.  I picked up my pace.  By the time I broke the treeline, I could see that the sky to the south was an eerie color.   Yellow-gray-white.  The wind picked up.  Started lashing the trees.  The sound was getting louder.  Then a stray raindrop.  I reached up to hold my hat on and started running.  Had to waste precious seconds fumbling with the latch on the gate.  By the time I made it to the little overhang by the front door, the sound was a roar.  Whatever this was -- IT WAS COMING FOR US.

Gloria met me at the door. "What is that sound?"  And about this time, hail started bouncing off the walkway.  And it got bigger.  And faster.  Started hitting harder.  It was ferocious.  It was terrifying.  It was shredding everything in sight, and there was nothing we could do but watch and swear.

 

 

Most important: no deaths or casualties!
The chickens were all under the makeshift tent of heavy duty shade cloth.  They got wet, but were not hit or hurt by the ice bullets.  

It was over in 20 minutes.
Aftermath.
Taking stock.
Picking up the pieces.
Poking through the wreckage.

The south side of the coop roof was destroyed.  There were shards of brittle plastic roofing everywhere.  The yellow begonia on the front stoop--decimated by wood snails 6 weeks ago, finally about to bloom: shredded. And the rest of the yard--a similar heartbreak.

Her first bloom, ripped down.  Leaves in tatters.

Such a small surface area, and in motion. How
is it even possible the hail snapped this off?!
And it got one in the front too?!
We no longer have any functioning wind gauges.

Somehow, the black and yellow striped garden spider
survived.  Her web already mended, she is back
in business.  (How? What did she do? Where
did she go to get through the storm?)