Hail! Hail! All Hail!

[ritaxis]

So the weather guy from San Francisco says a snow thunderstorm is pretty rare wherever you are, not to mention a place which hardly ever gets snow and gets thunderstorms only a bit more often than snow. It was only snow at about 1000 feet and above, though: down here at sea level it was hail. Mostly in the pea-size range, but some bigger. The thunder and lightning were very close -- apparently at the University they chased all the students inside because it looked like the lightning was about to hit the quad.

This morning the yard was still all white with hail -- I'm about to add some pictures, if they work out.

Tatsoi with hail


Truffle investigating hail



Irises wilted by hail



Front steps covered in hail

You must remember, you who live in places less temperate, that we have been experiencing spring for over a month now, and that we usually get hail less than once a year, snow once or twice a year at higher elevations and at sea level neither snow nor hail usually sticks like this. And if we're going to get this kind of weather, it'll be in January or February, hardly ever earlier or later than that. Heck, our rainy season will be over in a little more than a month and we'll be experiencing nothing but sun and fog (with about one lightly rainy week in July)until the end of October, if all goes as expected.

So, while this is not big news in Minnesota, in California it is.

We're off to the Pogonip, or maybe Grey Whale Ranch, about now, and all I can say to my offspring is: it will get better. Trust me.