- April 23, 2006 -
The day started out sunny and hot, and then the cold front moved in right on schedule. I had to run to Target for some pencils. I noticed that the wind had picked up a bit as I was walking inside. While shopping, I heard thunder. You don't hear thunder often in Colorado, and when it does it nearly always means hail. Going back to the car, the rain had begun to spit and the sky was awfully dark - another sign that hail is on the way. Uh oh. I gunned it home. About twenty minutes later, it began to outright pour - another Colorado rarity. Remember, Colorado weather is famed for its "360 days of sunshine". And reviled for its drought and endless resulting Summer wildfires. Rain in any form is fairly unusual, and a downpour is almost unheard of. About two minutes into the downpour, the hail started. We never got anything more than pea-sized in my neighborhood, but a friend who, lives in the city noted quarter-sized. One time last year, Golden got so much hail that the city had to bust out the snow plows and the drifts along the roads were several feet high. Actually, the hail isn't unusual for April. We usually get two or three hailstorms in April/May... but the thunder and the downpour? Yup, very strange. Midwesterners such as myself generally, as a rule, adore and revel in thunderstorms. In Colorado, dark skies and thunder cause everyone to glance worriedly at their cars and pray the roof holds up should nature let loose with the softballs, such as she did in Littleton two years ago - my co-workers in Littleton had some extensive vehicle damage, left the streets a mess of shredded leaves and broken branches, and the news is always much too happy to show pictures of some unfortunate family whose skylight was bashed in. Such is life in the front range weather vortex in which I've set up residence. The coasts have hurricanes, the Midwest has tornadoes, and we have killer hail.
The white bits in the photo are hail, landing on my balcony table. All pea-sized or smaller this time. It doesn't start denting cars until it gets to golf-size.
All Hail Spring
yesterday
tomorrow