…and the white streaks that appear to be running down the front of the gray house across the street are NOT the result of a poor paint job.
What you are seeing is a surprise hail event that occurred this morning (it only lasted about 10 minutes before turning into rain, so it’s hard to call it a hail storm).
The photo at right is our rear doormat; the hail came from the east and piled up against the back of the house almost two inches deep in places. When I walked outside a few minutes later I discovered that the hail was rough, not slick, and provided decent traction for walking, although Younger Son, who had to delay his departure for work for several minutes until the pelting eased up, reported that it was like driving in several inches of snow.
The consensus at the neighborhood coffee shop is that nobody, but noooooobody, had ever seen so much hail.
Apparently the fun isn’t over yet; it’s in the high 60s in Chicago but the very low 40s here, and the warm front is moving north. Thunder is rumbling and lightning is flickering even as I write this.
Like the lady said about a very different eve: “Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
© 2011 Anne Bingham and Making It Up as I Go
Anne Bingham: Making it up as I go 
Wow, that’s SOME hail! One thing I do miss about living in the Midwest: all that crazy weather! Here it just rains every day. =)
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I’ve heard that about the constant rain. Younger Son said the only time he was really warm during his semester at Lancaster University was when he was in Italy! He also said that it’s more of a heavy drizzle most of the time, not the lashing rains we get here in the Upper Midwest.
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