Hailstones as big as tennis ball hits Perth, Australia - very unusual

this is very unusual for Perth, hailstones the size of tennis balls hit Perth during a hailstorm.

Reported by Malaysian News

There was a strong wind and hailstones started falling. The sand started building up and the water level began to rise,” she said in an interview from Perth

an extract from the witnesses

check out the picture of the hailstone in the news link above.

this looks very scary..

on my personal experience, i have experience hailstones in dubai on 2nd of January this year, it was raining like a monsoon rain in Dubai, which is very unusual too.



[edit on 24-3-2010 by affeyee]

I would have had a stroke! We have had maybe quarter sized hail a time or two and even that sounded like it was going to shatter the windows in my home! That is scary!

Here's a video of the storm:



And another thread discussing it:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I was in the thick of it and it was quite an experience aside from the hailstones.

Flash flooding occurred and almost continous lightning strikes.

The hailstones caused significant damage to vehicles, 50 odd cars at one dealership alone being badly damaged. The hailstones were large enough and hit with enough force to punch holes through windscreens and severely dent body panels.

Strangely enough the same thing happened some 7 or 8 years ago 300km south of Perth in Bunbury. Not heard of any injuries in this case but that time there were many animals killed, sheep and chickens etc.

I did have some amazing photo's emailed to me but afraid I deleted them, I'm sure a quick web search would provide, the local paper the West Australian is probably a good source.

Considering the ambient temp was 27 odd degrees C it's strange to see ice fall !

Edited to add crossed with Chadwickus post above - nice video - spent Monday evening pumping out the car park of the Hay St building I work at !

[edit on 24-3-2010 by chunder]

reply to post by affeyee


and really, what is so unusual about a hail storm in Perth?

here is a weather reports for July 2001 to June 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Summary July 2001 to June 2002

Perth is mentioned a few times as well as hail damage
www.bom.gov.au...

1-3 July 2007 Widespread, mostly minor, damage was reported with only very isolated major damage. Tree damage was reported in Kings Park with some moderate property damage in South Perth. Brunswick Junction reported golf ball sized hail early on the 2nd and a tornado was reported northwest of Gnowangerup on the 1st.

www.bom.gov.au...

1-2 June 2009

A surface trough and middle level disturbance combined to produce thunderstorms in the Perth Metropolitan area from overnight from 1-2 June. Small hail was reported from Two Rocks.

www.bom.gov.au...

As I said, what is so unusual about the hail, golf ball sized hail seems to be the norm for Western Australia from the Australian Bureau of meteorology reports

When I was young, we lived for a few years in the South Burnett (Queensland, Australia)

Talk about the place Time forgot, lol -- especially compared to the Gold Coast where we'd lived previously

The old-timers in the South Burnett told us they had hailstorms similar to this recent one in Perth. They said the hail was sometimes as big as tennis balls and pointed out that the house we'd just bought had a new roof for this very reason --- the old one was cactus

We were warned to get under the kitchen table, anytime there was hail

Well, we never experienced the monster hail, but we were on the receiving-end of what they call a 'whirly-wind', up in the South Burnett

Luckily no-one was home when it hit, although play stopped for us up on the hill in the nearby school-yard when full-lengths of galvanised roofing-steel began spearing down into the ground at the bottom of the play-ground

When we arrived home from school, we learned why. A 'whirly-wind' had hit our place and had demolished the garage, had flipped over our mother's massive old car from it's usual place in the nearby driveway and had uprooted the big Jacaranda tree

But this next was the good bit, because our pet goat had been tethered between the garage and the tree --- yet there she still was, munching away, unperturbed

Interesting location, the South Burnett. Sleepy doesn't even begin to describe it. We'd bought the local store and it was like buying a museum ! When we conducted a stocktake and general look-around, we discovered on the shelves circular tins --- of toothpaste ! We'd never seen anything like it. Never even heard of it before. It was hard and white and according to the directions on the tin, you rubbed a damp toothbrush briskly over the hard tablet until you had sufficient to clean your teeth. I should have kept some tins as souveniers, realise now

Also, the local farmers would tether their horses outside and stalk in in the boots to buy chewing-tobacco. It came in hard, dark squares, about four inches by four inches. Then they'd shave bits off with knives. Very picturesque

Just as interesting was the wide crack that ran diagonally across the face of the local pub, which was directly opposite our store. It was a brick-built, stucco-rendered old pub, quite a landmark. And according to the locals, the crack had occurred on the day of 'the earthquake'

Who knew Australia had earthquakes strong enough to crack pubs ? I didn't, until then. Even now, if I were to imagine where an earthquake might threaten to rip apart buildings, I wouldn't automatically think of what to us at the time constituted 'outback Queensland'. In fact, if I were attempting to escape most natural disasters, South Burnett would probably come to mind, simply because it's so unchanging, so laid-back, so seemingly safe and stable

But natural disasters can strike almost anywhere. For example, the Aborigines have long told of what in fact was a tsunami which struck near Rockhampton (also in Queensland) long ago. And the whites who've found physical traces of this event have calculated that the sea rushed inland for several miles in that location

Huge seas off Sydney Heads have thrown boulders the size of buses up onto high cliffs, and more than once, I read recently -- with the same occurring near Woolongong in the quite recent past