Friday 3 July 2015

As big as golf balls!

You often hear the expression 'hail stones as big as golf balls' - well they really were that big in the village which is less than half a mile from our farm.   Folk took photographs of individual hail stones laid on rulers to prove it.

Considerable damage was done - a friend's car had his roof so badly damaged that it is even possible he may have to have a new roof.   Several businesses has skylights broken and various people had the back windows of their cars smashed.   Quite a few greenhouses in the village bore the brunt of the storm and a Garden Nursery at Ravensworth near Richmond - maybe twelve miles from us - had over eight hundred panes of glass broken.   It was all quite terrifying.

More storms are forecast for tonight so the farmer has put his car into the garage as a precaution (we usually leave it out in the Summer because swallows nesting make such a mess of the roof).

It has been another lovely day, slightly cooler with a pleasant breeze.   But tonight it is warming up again and storms are set to creep up the country as the night progresses.  We have both slept badly for the last few nights - why is it that we somehow don't feel 'safe' without at least a sheet over us in bed?

16 comments:

donna baker said...

It sounds strange, but I always wondered if your area of Europe got hailstones. Even smaller stones cause considerable damage to roofs and cars. Wouldn't want to get caught outside during one of those.

Rachel Phillips said...

If we get hailstones in the east at this time of year it can destroy a field of barley at the click of your fingers.

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Wow, Pat. First, I am glad to hear it missed you but what a mess for the folks it did hit. Eight hundred pains of glass! (As an interesting aside, we live right alongside the eighteenth fairway of a golf course. The fellow who lives upstairs has had one of his windows broken out so many times by errant golf balls, that the club house responsible for such mishaps finally replaced it with bullet proof glass. Living downstairs, we have only had a window out twice in 18 years.) Anyway, I hope you are safe tonight.

And I know just what you mean about the sheet thing.
AND and, have posted a new, well, post on my blog about the quilt you liked the other day. I think you would enjoy reading it.

Happy w/e!
xo, m & jb who hates thunder with a passion

Tom Stephenson said...

Blimey, Weave. I have heard of them but never seen them.

angryparsnip said...

Welcome to my summer world.
We get hail sized golf balls and bigger in the summer down pores.
Not often but yes it does happen.

Hope You, the Farmer, Tess and your animals stay safe.

cheers, parsnip

Terry and Linda said...

Oh, gosh! HAIL! It is such a destroyer of things and crops! I hope you don't have anymore. It's thunder and lightning here...we are hoping it will be rain and not hail.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Frances said...

As Tom has already said blimey, I'll now add my own shock and then absorption, of your having hailstones, Perhaps this will be a summer of 2015 one-off, but still. It does show us that year by year, season by season, some changes are entering into the mix that seems famiiar to us.

Over here in NYC, it's a bit cool (i.e. I haven't got my fan switched on...no ac in this little apartment, and the air is okay. Tomorrow might be another situation altogether, as our counry celebrates its birthday.

Economy triumphs all over here, so I will be working. Is it not strange to celebrate a country's birthday by encouraging folks to spend their money?

I'm still thinking about posting a new blog tomorrow, after I return home from my day at work.

Being able to read your posts is always encouraging to my soul.

susie @ persimmon moon cottage said...

Hail is so damaging. Around here it means there may be a tornado near or on its way. A few years ago we had severe storm that dropped chicken egg sized hail. It did a lot of damage on our house. It was so loud hitting the house that it was frightening. Our dog thought someone was knocking at the door making all of that noise and so he was running around inside barking at the door and windows and everywhere trying to scare it away. When it was done and safe to go near the windows again, it looked like there were chicken eggs all over all of the yards on the street. Luckily, it was a very localized hail storm. Unluckily, it was localized in my neighborhood. My dad is 87 and said he had never seen hail that big before.

This week we have been having such bad electrical storms. Lightning struck the big sycamore tree next to our yard for a second time. I am hoping it won't kill the tree, but the leaves are starting to look wilted. Dangerous weather lately.

Stay safe. I hope your weather will get better soon.

Cro Magnon said...

Not even a sheet on our bed..... far too hot.

The worst hail I've ever experienced was after taking friends down to Toulouse airport. On my way back (in a Renault 4) it started to hail, and became so violent that I had to stop. The hailstones were huge and the noise on the car roof was unbelievable. When I eventually got home I looked at the car roof... NOT THE TINIEST MARK.

Robin Mac said...

We don't get hail storms like that here in the tropics, but when I lived in Brisbane, there were several I remember. The after effects of a hail storm I remember most vividly was flying into Sydney airport after a trip to China, where of course there was no news from home (1999, before the days of Facebook etc). We could not believe all the blue tarps we could see - an absolute sea of them. Sydney had been hit by a massive hail storm with horrendous damage - a really amazing sight from the air.

thelma said...

That sounds rather scary Pat, and unusual, climate change? We have had the storms as well, lightening all the sky last night and heavy downpours of rain but no hail. Mostly we are all worried about lightening strike us not being knocked out by hail......

Heather said...

I do hope there is no further damage as bad as that. The storm must have been very frightening. I saw one flicker of distant lightning and heard one distant rumble of thunder but we did have a lovely downpour which was much appreciated. We were lucky this time, but I suppose with climate change we must expect our weather to become more extreme.
I too like a thin cover even on a hot night - I suppose it is inbred to cover ourselves for sleep.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Another storm early hours of this morning - no hailstones this time but eleven millimetres of rain which is very welcome in the garden - you can almost see the peas and broad beans growing!
Thanks for calling in.

Elizabeth said...

Sounds rather dramatic and alarming!
Do hope the drama abates a little over the next few days.

Mac n' Janet said...

Scary! We occasionally get hail here, though I've never seen it that big. It's wind that does the damage here. Stay safe.

Rachel Phillips said...

Climate change, no, hailstorms like this happen from time to time, and they are written into farmers insurance policies and always have been.