Ah hail....

SO got a project and decided to come into work a few hours early. I'm much faster when it's quiet up here.

I got out of the shower at 4:30 am, and heard a distant rumbling sound. It was HOT all weekend, low 90's and humid. I watched the weather last night before bed, and there were no clouds in the entire state (and this is a big friggin state and I'm dead in the middle of it), and they were talking about wildfires to the west and north of us, being fed by the dryness and winds, and how there was no relief in sight.

They did say a slight cool front was due to come through early this morning, so today's highs would only be in the mid-80's and a lot less humid. No mention of rain at all on the news.

So back to the rumble, I look out the living room windows just as lightning lights up the world, followed by a loud crack of thunder. About 10 seconds later, it begins to hail....HARD. The Cutlass and 79 Buick were under the carport, the GTO is in the garage, and the Grand Prix is in my buddies shop, but the Roady wagon is in the driveway. I nab the keys and dash outside, soaked instantly, and jump in the wagon, back it up and pull it over beside the house to park on the gravel driveway I made to the carport, so the car is under the trees there.

The term "closing the barn door after the horses have escaped" came to mind. I opened the door and now it's just raining, but there is ice all over the ground and the wiper area below the windshield and the rear roof by the luggage rack is full of hail stones.

I don't think any damage was done. The largest hail I found was just a little larger than pea sized, but smaller than marble sized. I tried to look down the hood and roof in the light from the garage spotlight, and it looked ok. Fingers are crossed.

The storms are already gone. We had two come through, each lasted about 5 mins. I turned on the weather and the weathermen seemed as surprised by the storms as I was...idiots.

It's supposed to be clear skies and cooler when the sun comes up shortly.

You just never know. I WILL be parking the Roady on the gravel under the trees for the rest of the spring and summer. Just in case....that's it's new home.

Never a dull moment!

-Mike

Solution: Expand carport over driveway.

lol

That's crazy. Hail in Texas? Good god.

Stingroo wrote:

Solution: Expand carport over driveway.

lol

That's crazy. Hail in Texas? Good god.

Mid Sept - mid Oct - All bets are off. hot, cool, storms at any time

Oct-late March - Gorgeous weather...why we live here

Late-March-early June - All bets are off. hot, cool, storms at any time. Don't like the weather, wait 5-mins and it'll change.

Mid-June-early Sept - Hot and Sunny....period. Day after Day. Live in the A/C, at the lake, in the pool....find shade at all costs.

I'd have come running outside like "What the hail?"

Parking under the trees works with the little stuff. In 2004 a NM town got hit with lemon-sized hailstones. A friend of mine kept some in the freezer. Parking under the trees only reduced the damage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxSsiLHoOYg

That is INSANE. I've never seen hail in person before, thankfully.

I hope it's ok. Be glad it wasn't this bad:

http://triad.news14.com/content/local_news/charlotte/639350/cleanup-continues-in-gastonia-after-hail-pounds-area

That same ssystem made it this far but thankfully no hail.

Jon

Damn Nick thats some scary stuff.Cant believe all the damage and the disbelief on those peoples faces.Hey Nick you got off easy and I am sure that you will go over the wagon with
a flashlight this evening to find any damage.Been watching the news and Nick you got some
scary weather down there and fires too.Glad that you havent found any damage yet.
Take Care
Jim Gordon

My wife is in the Roady today and she said it looked "ugly as ever, but no new damage". Nice.

Gorgeous day now. Was just outside. No clouds, in the upper 60's and a nice breeze from the north. Humidity from the weekend is gone. Wonderful stuff. Too bad I had to come back inside.

Will give the Roady a good look over this evening.

Flasheroo wrote:

Damn Nick thats some scary stuff.Cant believe all the damage and the disbelief on those peoples faces.Hey Nick you got off easy and I am sure that you will go over the wagon with
a flashlight this evening to find any damage.Been watching the news and Nick you got some
scary weather down there and fires too.Glad that you havent found any damage yet.
Take Care
Jim Gordon

Yah. It's only the beginning of April, and we've already had two fires in Albuquerque. The big ones were by Socorro and Ruidoso. We've gotten zero rain at the house since 12/28/10. I'm worried about summer.

That hail storm caused damage that I would not have expected. My friend had a skylight over the laundry room. The hailstones broke through the skylight, and then gallons of rainwater got into the house. NM Tech was still repairing the roofs two years later. All the trees were stripped and everyone's vegetable garden was stomped flat.

A million years ago when I was in high school in Davie, FL (west of Ft. Laud) we had golf ball sized hail that lasted for about 10 minutes every car in the parking lot had their windows broken and tops dented up pretty good. My buddy's vert's brand spanking new top was shredded too.

I have a small shallow ding right in the middle of the roof above the front seat from the other morning's hail. I may go see if one of the paintless dent places can pull it out. It's shallow...but I see it.

Amazingly the hood and back roof made it fine.

Never a dull moment.

-Mike

Hey it's my wife's glue gun....

Hey Mike if your insurance is going to pay,go to the dent removal place.If not go on-line and
buy the same stuff they use and do it yourself.The best equipment is all anodized aluminum
and they use a special black hot glue and various sizes of the plugs.Been doing some reading
and wwatching the videos.Pretty neat and very effective.
Jim Gordon

Plus, I can see Mike getting years of use out of his tiny dent kit.

I'm sure the S10's bed would be a good candidate for a weekend's project.

(I'm only joking )

Don't bring up the S-10's bed....I'm still upset about that...

dry ice method.....been meaning to try it myself...

The dry ice method does not work. I tried it.

I have a dent removal kit like they had on TV with the screw puller. It has the black hot glue. It is lightly used, and minus 1/2 of one glue stick. I would like $25 shipped.

Can you even begin to imagine Texas Mike with a "Painless Dent Removal"kit and all the accessories.People all over his part of texas would come out of their house,businesses or
shopping to find this guy pulling dents and then detailing their car for free.They would call
the "Phantom dent be gone ".Hey Mike I am just messing with you'hey do you carry full
coverage on your wagon and if so and if you dont mind how much does it cost you?
I will start bt saying I carry full coverage on my 91 OCC and just liability on my 95 RMW.
It costs me $26.82 a month for the OCC and $18.02 a month for the RMW.Yea I know its
real cheap but I dont drive much over 2500 miles a year and I am 55 with a spotless
driving record and I have been with State Farm since 1976.There were some years when vehicle insurance was a killer like when I had full coverage on a 74 Vette a 84 5spd Turbo
Coupe Thunderbird a Honda CBX 6 cyl bike and lastly a Honda XL 500 dual purpose bike.And this was way back in 84 or 85.Your turn Mike and I challenge anybody to beat my current
pathetic lifestyle.
Goodnight Guys

Jim Gordon

$26 a month for full coverage?

I don't think I like you anymore. LOL You don't wanna know what I pay.....

We had hail here in the Kansas City area a couple of weeks ago. My wife and I scrambled to rearrange the garage and actually stuffed the wagon AND another car in before the hail it. It wasn't pretty, but it was protective.

Way to go BigWagon.Awesome that your wife jumped in and helped to protect your wagon and her vehicle too.Some of the wives here would wish for hail and then hide the keys to the
wagon and then disable the garage door too.
Jim Gordon