Got a semi-chuckle recently when we were remembering (and discussing) a “storm report” that came over the NWS teletype circuit that was reserved mostly for severe weather. It was a long time ago and I don’t remember who filed the report. (It was not me!!!)
But the report described hail the size of “chigger eggs.”
This prompted Vic Bell, our 33/40 Skywatcher in Black Creek/Scrougeout to give us this first person account when he was living in Oklahoma. In Vic’s own words:
“The small hail was simply amazing. It was sometimes in May after the trees had all greened up. The hail was the size of grains of sand but it was falling so heavily that it looked like sheets of glass falling from the sky. It stripped all the new foliage off the trees and knocked thousands of birds out of the sky. The birds were lying dead all over the ground. I don’t know if they were in the trees or were flying, some of both perhaps, so I think I saw some of that chigger hail in the Oklahoma City area one March or April.”
Vic also recalls another bad hail event in the area. He doesn’t remember the exact year, but it was probably 1987 to 1989. Again in his own words:
“I was living in Midwest City about a mile north of Tinker Air Force Base. The softball-size hail about a month earlier was localized to Midwest City. It broke out most of the windows in houses and cars. The softball-size hail in that storm was driven by 80 mph winds. I stood with my neighbor on her porch and watched a funnel go down Southeast 29th Street while it was hailing. It touched down about 10 miles to the east in Choctaw and killed a woman. This softball-size hail fell before the trees had leafed out.”
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ANOTHER STORY
This one from Sue who was at her home in the SW corner of Morgan County close to the Cullman County Battleground Mountain area one early morning late this month. In her own words, “I woke up to a tree falling on my house right across the bedroom while I was sleeping. Odd thing about it, there had been no storm until earlier in the night. Ordinarily I am gone from home by 6:30, but on this rare morning did not get up at my usual 5:00 a.m. The house shook and things were falling from the wall and a loud boom. Actually thought someone had left the road and crashed into my house. I did not think about a tree falling, because it was not storming at the time. It did not come all the way through the ceiling of my bedroom, because the top of the tree hit the top floor of the house, broke apart and the other part hit above my bed. Thank heavens no one was upstairs. The tree was about 5 feet around and broke off at the base. It did not uproot.”
There is a lesson in this: after big storms it is always wise to check for weakened trees around your home that did not come crashing down. Sometimes the next storm, even a much weaker one, can finish the job. It is always important to check your roof closely after significant hail, especially if it is about 1 inch in diameter or larger.
Thanks to Vic and Sue for letting me tell their story.
