Hail-latious Saturday

I managed to get in a couple of hours outside before the hellatious heat and humidity drove me in for the day ... all the while chanting "68 more days, only 68 more days" to myself. I spent most of the afternoon languishing/lolling on the sofa, reading and napping. By late afternoon I was sufficiently recovered to contemplate a trip to the grocery store with the Executive Producer.

As we headed out to run dinner over to the working girl, I noticed that there were some serious looking clouds building to the south/southeast of my corner of Katy. I think most gardeners are avid amateur meteorologists ... certainly the ones I know are as consumed with the weather as I am. Today's storm clouds were especially interesting because the professional (ahem) soothsayer for our local paper showed NO chance of storms. Partly cloudy, he said. Had I checked the radar and animated the map before we left to shop, I'd have been prepared for what was to come. I only recently discovered the delights of animating the radar map and take an inordinate pleasure in watching the storms' movements and announcing to anyone in the vicinity of my computer (even if it's just the dog) that heavy rain is seconds away. That proved to be the case today ... only minutes after we entered the store, we heard a loud crack of thunder and then the pounding of rain on the roof. By the time we checked out, there were reports of hail in the area. The EP was designated to make a run for the car while I waited with the groceries (because as a fragile flower of Southern womanhood, I might melt in such heavy rain, you understand).

We made it home and into the garage safely, unloaded the groceries and then I heard it ... crack, ping, clink ... hail fell fast and furious! My first reaction, of course, was to get the camera and record this. The hail was more than pea-sized (maybe edamame, as I commented while shooting) and lasted for about 3 minutes. Unfortunately, I cannot share the video with y'all due to creative differences amongst the photographer, the camera and Picasa. For some reason, the video is not being downloaded and I have no idea why. Ideas?

Comments

Commonweeder said…
Yikes! My husband spends as much time checking the weather as doing anything else. We were lucky and escaped a hail storm in our area. We also missed the rain - but it finally arrived over the weekend while we were at our family reunion. One whole inch of rain.
Cindy, MCOK said…
Pat, congrats on the rain AND on avoiding the hail! It always seems so odd to me to see ice falling in July!