I've never seen hail like this.

[British Red]

We had a hail storm today.

One of our neighbours was returning the log splitter when the skies opened.

So of course we lit the fire and repaired to the living room with a bottle of wine.

A poor cyclist was sheltering behind the corner of our barn from driving hail so my wife offered to let her pop her bike in our barn and come in.

I know sheltering from hail sounds stupid but this was a single hailstone (actually it was quite a bit bigger but melted in my hand whilst I hunted for a camera)

Hail Stone by British Red, on Flickr

I would describe the opriginal size as "large gobstopper". I'll check for damage to the greenhouses and cars tomorrow.

 

[Cromm]

Welcome to the revolution.

 

[Harvestman]

Eek! I know they get bigger hail in the US and Australia, but that is the largest bit of hail I have seen in this country, and I certainly wouldn't want to be hit by that.

 

[Shewie]

We had a tent destroyed by hail that size in the Dordogne a few years back

 

[crosslandkelly]

Bl@@dy hell, we had hail yesterday and the day before, but nothing like that.

 

[ozzy1977]

Impressive for this country, when we were in Australia back in 2003 on boxing day we had the most sever hail storm I have seen, stones like golf balls that lasted for 2 hours, we were lucky the other side of town got hammered entire crops of pepper, melon and peanut got wiped out, cars had broken windows, dented roofs and 1 caravan park had many caravans written off with the damage, they had hail like oranges.

 

[Mesquite]

You're going to know if they hit you for sure.

I hope you didn't get any major damage Hugh

 

[British Red]

I haven't been out for a look yet Steve - frightened to look at the greenhouses!

Fingers crossed!

 

[fishfish]

i havent seen hail like that for 20 years!

 

[Harvestman]

Just about the only thing that you can do with hail like that is pour gin and tonic over it.

 

[rik_uk3]

Nasty halestone, but that ring looks tight Red, get it looked at now chap; that is not looking too clever.

 

[British Red]

Its fine thanks - any looser and it would fall off

 

[rik_uk3]

That ain't loose, look at the picture, but at least I expressed concern so job done as a (retired) nurse

 

[British Red]

Yes Rik I'm sure you know better than I do how my wedding ring fits

 

[Clouston98]

Crikey! I wouldn't fancy those whacking off my head! I think the biggest hail we've ever had were about the size of a large pea, but that's something else for this country.

 

[Green Weasel]

My mum still tells the tale of how a few weeks after my birth in 1958 she took shelter under the kitchen table with me in her arms during a hailstorm . It actually broke a window . For some time the hail-stones associated with the event held a place in the Guiness Book of Records . I looked it up years ago - not that I disbelieved dear old mum;just out of interest.
Don't know if its still in the GBRs or has been surpassed.

On a similar note. I was once working in a neighbour's garden while they were out and was assailed by a tremendous crashing noise that made me think of a gas explosion. At the same moment lumps of ice came bouncing off the roof of her conservatory and one grazed my hair. The biggest bit was about the size of two or three congealed tennis balls.

When the neighbour came home she made a series of calls and eventually was put through to Gatwick airport police who were very non-committal but passed her to another department . The guy there asked about the colour of the ice . when told it was white he cheerily suggested it had come from a wing. If it had been blue it would've come from the toilets apparently!
Amazingly the conservatory had suffered no broken glass so it went no further. Unfortunatly the next time it rained heavily just about every window seal was found to leak.

It did occur to me that had I been actually killed by the falling ice from a passing aeroplane by the time my neighbour came home it would probably have melted leaving my limp body as the centre-piece of a bizarre murder-mystery.

 

[British Red]

Happy to report there doesn't seem to be any damage

Last time I saw hail do damage was twenty years ago in Leicestershire - it punched holes through the leaves of my sunflowers!

 

[General Strike]

When I was living in Leipzig in 2005, there was a hailstorm of short duration but extreme violence. Golf-ball-sized hailstones were responsible for many injuries to people who had been in the parks enjoying sunny weather a few minutes before - and for many months afterwards, it was not uncommon to see cars covered in a remarkably even array of dimples; reminiscent of golf balls themselves!