tornado33
31-10-2006, 11:57 PM
Today I witnessed the biggest hail storm in my life. It came in from the north, moving at right angles to the prevailing west to east movement of weather as shown on the BOM radar. The cell was black on the radar, meaning it was VERY intense. First weather warnings said it will pass to north, but as the storm continued right at last minute the issued a warning for Newcastle itself.
I was watching, fascinated by the cloud formations
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9644.jpg
I could also see swirling going on in a bank of low cloud under the storm, and coming this way. I could also hear a roar, like falling heavy rain that hasn’t yet arrived, but louder. Yet the roar continued to rise in volume, but not a drop of rain fell. The roar seemed to be coming from west through to north, getting even louder, starting to become frightening, ive never heard anything like it. I didn’t know if there was a tornado, hidden in the rain band or what. Then a sudden VERY cold gust of wind from the north replaced the warm moist easterly that had been blowing earlier. It is the coldest most sudden outdoor temperature drop Ive ever felt in my life. The roar still goit louder, till one had to almost shout to people nearby to be heard. Then a single chunk of ice fell about 50 metres to the north, breaking up into fragments when it hit the ground. I ran for cover, now knowing the roar was giant hail crashing down. A few seconds later down it came
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9652.jpg
Not a drop of rain, just pure large hail. Each one making a loud bang when it hit the roof. Not a ot of wind thankfully so it fell near vertically, just a slight angle from the north. Mums car copped a few dings despite a palm tree over it (may have been worse without it). I could see trees being ripped, branches and leaves falling down from the hail.
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9653.jpg
It didn’t seem to last too long, after a few mins it eased off, replaced by heavy rain. Then some pea sized hail, more rain then blue sky, sun and the storm moved off to the SE, temp rapidly rose again. Local shopping centre Wallsend Plaza was flooded due to water coming through roof, and was closed for the day. Hail was shown on the NBN News falling at the beaches, so all of Newcastle got hail, however worst seemed to be near Newcastle Uni. A mate not far from there rang to see how I was, as his mum was just missed in her kitchen by a baseball sized hailstone that crashed through their skylight!
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9661.jpg now the sun is out
Hail samples Ive kept for posterity
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9663.jpg
and a most unusual one
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9664.jpg
This was the only translucent stone anywhere ion my yard, all others were white, this translucent one stood out like a sore thumb.
All in all one of the most amazing weather experiences in my life.
Scott
I was watching, fascinated by the cloud formations
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9644.jpg
I could also see swirling going on in a bank of low cloud under the storm, and coming this way. I could also hear a roar, like falling heavy rain that hasn’t yet arrived, but louder. Yet the roar continued to rise in volume, but not a drop of rain fell. The roar seemed to be coming from west through to north, getting even louder, starting to become frightening, ive never heard anything like it. I didn’t know if there was a tornado, hidden in the rain band or what. Then a sudden VERY cold gust of wind from the north replaced the warm moist easterly that had been blowing earlier. It is the coldest most sudden outdoor temperature drop Ive ever felt in my life. The roar still goit louder, till one had to almost shout to people nearby to be heard. Then a single chunk of ice fell about 50 metres to the north, breaking up into fragments when it hit the ground. I ran for cover, now knowing the roar was giant hail crashing down. A few seconds later down it came
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9652.jpg
Not a drop of rain, just pure large hail. Each one making a loud bang when it hit the roof. Not a ot of wind thankfully so it fell near vertically, just a slight angle from the north. Mums car copped a few dings despite a palm tree over it (may have been worse without it). I could see trees being ripped, branches and leaves falling down from the hail.
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9653.jpg
It didn’t seem to last too long, after a few mins it eased off, replaced by heavy rain. Then some pea sized hail, more rain then blue sky, sun and the storm moved off to the SE, temp rapidly rose again. Local shopping centre Wallsend Plaza was flooded due to water coming through roof, and was closed for the day. Hail was shown on the NBN News falling at the beaches, so all of Newcastle got hail, however worst seemed to be near Newcastle Uni. A mate not far from there rang to see how I was, as his mum was just missed in her kitchen by a baseball sized hailstone that crashed through their skylight!
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9661.jpg now the sun is out
Hail samples Ive kept for posterity
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9663.jpg
and a most unusual one
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/hail31oct06/IMG_9664.jpg
This was the only translucent stone anywhere ion my yard, all others were white, this translucent one stood out like a sore thumb.
All in all one of the most amazing weather experiences in my life.
Scott