Bryan's on my case again!
Anyways, Off Topic a little:
This morning while I was waiting in line at the grocery store, (around 9 am) It got really dark out. Night lights were turning on outside. Suddenly there was this very loud noise happening. I made the comment 'Here comes the fireworks'.
It took a few seconds (10?) before word got around that it was hailing outside. I've only experienced hail about once every 5 years or so, so this is almost as rare (to me) as the Northern Lights.
Well it turns out that this particular hail storm was even rarer than the Northern Lights. The most remarkable hail storm I'd ever experienced before (at least to my recollection) was one where hail was a half (maybe a full) centimeter across - back when I was still driving a motorcycle - over a decade ago.
The hail was replaced with rain (when I decided I would head for home). I picked up a couple a hail balls & they were a full inche (2 to 3 cm across). Then there was heavy rain (when I decided it best to try and run some). By the time I got home some 5 minutes later the rain had gone through heavy & light phases including some more smaller sized hail balls coming down. Of course I was soaked. But I knew I had to take some pictures. I hastily went outside to collect some hail balls and took the following picture from inside the house, as smaller hail balls were still coming down along with somewhat heavy rain. I took 3 pictures and the flash worked in all cases - that's how dark it was - in spite of the fact that I was 'shooting' with outdoor lighting.
Now remember - it's about 17c (60+f) and the larger balls had fallen over 5 minutes earlier ...