Hailstorm on the Parkway
Recently, during this month of July, I was on my way from Bedford early one morning to attend meetings in New York City. Driving along the Sawmill River Parkway, I was astonished to see piles of snow and ice along the sides of the highway! I asked my driver to pull off and stop so that I could take in this odd phenomenon. I had heard reports of violent weather passing through the region during the evening hours and I could only be grateful that we didn't receive a pelting, such as this one, at the farm. Do you have any hail stories you'd like to share?
Wow! That could really cause some damage to flowers and veggie gardens. That's a lot of accumulation.
Interesting because out here in the West, I was under a scorching sun selling pottery at a local art fair. The only ice here was in my iced coffee!
http://potsnpies.blogspot.com
Posted by: Clayvessel | July 20th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Martha, I'd love to have a diamond the size of that
hail. Wow.
Posted by: martyjean625 | July 20th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Yup - saw that a few weeks ago too in southern Quebec. We are 'hoping" this week may be actually summer-like.
Posted by: Margaret Faulks | July 20th, 2009 at 7:10 am
wow, that's a lot of ice!
Posted by: French furniture | July 20th, 2009 at 7:42 am
That is one of my least favorite roads on the planet - the very same thing happened there last August. It is no pleasure to drive even without the hail.... ah-hem, New York State.
Posted by: The Blushing Hostess | July 20th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Hey Martha!
Hail No!, on any hail stories but lightning struck my house while the dog and I were in the kitchen. It knocked pictures off of the wall, killed a few outlets and had my Baptist butt on the floor saying, "Hail Mary!"!
Posted by: tinay | July 20th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Oh, almost forgot...Congratulations to The Martha Show on four nominations for an Emmy award! (I read your August calendar in Living.)
Posted by: tinay | July 20th, 2009 at 9:31 am
The weather we've had on the East Coast for the past few months has been quite uncharacteristic of the seasons, indeed! I think in the month of June, it rained for about 18 or 19 days straight and there were only 3 days of sunshine in the entire month. I can't believe it hailed in the month of July! What'll we have next? A blizzard come August?
Posted by: chanteuse chérie | July 20th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Hi Martha!!! You always amaze me at how you find the beauty in everything around you and you make me look at things differently too. Nature is amazing!!
Posted by: Theresa G. | July 20th, 2009 at 10:07 am
G'Day from West Australia Martha! It's hailing here too - can't take a photo for yu because it hasn't stopped all day so I'm housebound - wish you'd come and do some shows here, I just watched your Birthday show and I'm so jealous - I don't have a KitchenAid
Love the shows - you're a legend.
Posted by: Jan D. | July 20th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Hi Martha,
I was driving up to Orlando one year to a bowling tournament in the winter and I remember having to pull over due to pelting rain and small drops of hail pounding the heck out of my car. It was something I least expected; ~scary~ to say the least! Of course everyone waiting for me said I was exaggerating but nah-ah. That was hail! The kids down here would go wild if they saw as much as shown in your pictures. They would think it had snowed! Trish
Posted by: Trish | July 20th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
The hail really glistens...and, i agree, a diamond that size is welcome anytime! I am glad that your farm was bypassed...well, only welcome if it dropped off a diamond, of course!
Posted by: sherey | July 20th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Hi Martha,
Many years ago in Columbus, OH, we were suprised with golf ball sized hail. The hail stones dented the hood of our newly painted car! If one of those hail stones would have hit someone, I'm sure it would have been very painful.
Posted by: bwebb | July 20th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Glad you have a car & driver to protect you in such driving conditions
Posted by: Stephen | July 20th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Now Martha, would you really like a diamond that size. Of course it would be fun until I charged out to pull weeds with it on.
Posted by: Margie | July 20th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
As I am sitting here in Southern California it is 110 - - pictures of hail are a cool site!
Thanks Martha for making it seem cooler for a few minutes!
Posted by: Toni | July 20th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Wow. I read Martha's blog today, came home and right after dinner we had hail here in Colorado Springs, CO. Fortunately it did not harm our flowers, plants, or vegetable garden.
Posted by: MRT | July 20th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Martha:
The hail is so amazing. You're right, it looks like diamonds made of ice. But what strikes me most about it is all the shredded greenery found in the roadside piles indicating the kind of damage it did to trees and plants on its way down.
I'm glad for you that your farm wasn't affected. I remember all the damage to your trees about a year or so ago when there was a bad storm.
I hope you're enjoying the summer!
Posted by: Joseph Brennan | July 20th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
good pic
Posted by: ICTI验厂 | July 20th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
In the Colorado mountains, we had a few fantastic hail storms over the July 4th weekend. I posted pictures here... http://postcardsfromcolorado.blogspot.com/2009/07/happy-weekend-and-independence-day.html
And I love the Saw Mill! (I don't agree with the Blushing Hostess.) I think it and the Merritt Parkway are beautiful, as highways go!
Posted by: liza | July 21st, 2009 at 1:08 am
Martha, we have a restaurant on the saw mill parkway and we where right in the middle of that hail storm.you must of stoped near our restaurant. Please. it would would be fabu of you if you would stop and say hi sometime. Its La Lanterna Reataurant 23 Grey Oaks ave. Yonkers NY. You must drive by it all the time.
Thanks
C u at the next Storm.
walter
Posted by: valterio tarone | July 21st, 2009 at 9:43 am
Hi Martha,
Here's a pic I shot at the same location on the Saw Mill Pkwy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/schneiderclan/3704353990/
I live only five miles from here yet we had no hail at all. What also blew me away was the fact that the hail mounds lasted for another day or two in the summer heat before completely melting!
Doug
Posted by: Doug | July 21st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I have no hail stories from summertime. I have nightmare stories of hail storms in Boston winters.
Posted by: Teresa Touey | July 21st, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Great news from Maine that we thought you might like to hear! For the first time in more than a century, a Common Guillemot Uria aalge - also known as Common Murre - egg has been discovered!
The egg was discovered by a volunteer working for Audubon’s Seabird Restoration program on Matinicus Rock, one of 50 islands in Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge.
Full story here:
http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2009/07/guillemot_egg.html
Posted by: wmml | July 21st, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Hi Martha, You certainly do find unusual things to post on your wonderful blog. The hail storm in the middle of summer was extremely fascinating. The fact that it hadn't melted at 78 degrees is amazing. All of the photos are great. Some of the clumps of hail and grass look like rice cooked with parsely. I remember a wild hail storm back in the 60's when my youngest brother and I were returning from a trip to Disney Land. I think it was in Idaho or Oregon and I had to pull over because the storm was so fierce. It didn't last too long, but it was kind of scarey to drive in it. Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | July 22nd, 2009 at 12:50 am