Rhonda Bracey: At Random

I’ve timestamped the photos and videos (to the hundredths of seconds) so you can see how quick this thing was. All the videos and most of the photos before you get to the videos were taken from inside the house—there was no way I was venturing out into that! (The videos are all less than 30 seconds each. Note: I have NO control over what videos YouTube promotes at the end of each one.)

Update: According to the weather bureau, the town 25 km from us had less than 2 mm of rain, which means this hailstorm was very localised. I’ve seen no reports of it in the media, at all. And later speaking with those who live nearby, it seems only a strip of about 3 streets in my area got this hail. Perhaps it was a weather phenomenon called a ‘wet microburst’ or ‘downburst’.

2:52:37pm

Oh, this is cool! We’ve got hail—wow!

2:52:40pm

Wow, that hail is coming down quick (3 secs after first photo)

2:52:46pm

9 seconds after the first photo – the hail is coming down even more. Time to go inside as the lightning strikes seem close.

2:52:55pm

18 seconds after the first photo — now that hail is getting a little bit scary

2:52:58pm (video)

From inside the front door, looking over the front lawn

2:53:48pm (video)

From inside the front door, looking over the front lawn

2:54:47pm (video)

From the side door, looking out over the driveway to the house across the road

2:55:26pm (video)

From the back door, looking over the back lawn and raised garden beds—the hail looks like snow

2:55:51pm (video)

The gutters and soakwells were not coping with the deluge of so much rain and hail in such a short time—this was getting a little bit scary…

2:57:11pm (video)

The soakwells were full and the water and hailstones had nowhere to go so they just pooled around on the concrete

2:57:36pm (video)

The soakwells were full and the water and hailstones had nowhere to go so they just pooled around on the concrete (apologies for the change of orientation of this video, but it shows the pooling water really well, so I didn’t want to delete it)

3:03:23pm

Five minutes later, the worst of it was over. The rain and hail stopped and I ventured outside to check for damage and to take photos. Already the ice was melting fast (it was still 25C—the temperature hadn’t dropped with the hail as usually happens), but I needed to record as much as possible in case there were damages that we needed to claim on insurance. Fortunately, I think we dodged a bullet on that! My “he’s a keeper” handyman will check the roof, gutters, solar panels etc. later this week to make sure everything is still OK.

Minor flooding on the back veranda—the water near the back lawn was about 4 cm deep, the skies had gone from dark grey to medium grey. We NEVER get water coming in past the line of the pillars.

3:03:33pm

More flooding at the back veranda. The ice is disappearing fast.

3:03:40pm

This soakwell just couldn’t cope with the deluge, so the water and hailstones pooled there for several minutes. The water here was about 6 cm deep.

3:03:49pm

This soakwell just couldn’t cope with the deluge, so the water and hailstones pooled there for several minutes. The water here was about 6 cm deep.

3:04:03pm

This soakwell just couldn’t cope with the deluge, so the water and hailstones pooled there for several minutes. The water here was about 6 cm deep.

3:04:55pm

15 minutes after it started, it was all over. All the hail was melting fast and the sun was out.

3:05:19pm

15 minutes after it started, it was all over. All the hail was melting fast and the sun was out. Steam was coming off the metal roof and the land as the sun started to work its magic.

3:05:32pm

Some small pockets of hail took longer to melt than others

3:04:45pm

Side yard. Hail is melting fast.

3:06:43pm

The water sloughing off the land and the gardens had to go somewhere, so down the driveway it went

3:06:50pm

The water sloughing off the land and the gardens had to go somewhere, so down the driveway it went, creating big gouges and carrying the blue metal to the lowest point (the kerb in the picture is about 10-15cm deep)

A day later, and the lawns and gardens are positively SMILING with relief at getting some rain. We haven’t had rain for months, so even though this was scary, the benefit to the garden is immense.