HAIL in Baltimore today!

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

Today we had the freakiest weather. It was cloudy all day and rain was expected. Then, about 3 p.m., I heard loud thunder and rain hammering down. I ran to the window and it was HAILING! There was heavy rain pouring down, accompanied by hail the size of pea gravel. Very fortunately, its angle of fall limited it to the narrow open end of my balcony and the most vulnerable targets were my window box of geraniums, petunias, vinca vine and portulaca, and the unoccupied half of a hanging basket of fuschia. Fortunately, those don't appear to be damaged. The hail piled up to about an inch. It looked like someone had a scoop and a vat of crushed ice and had flung bunches of it on the plants. Several large hostas had hail accumulate in their pot, but fortunately no damage. The fabric screen I made last summer to shield the little hostas on the top shelf from the sun sure came in handy and kept the hail from all the top shelf plants.

I can't remember ever getting this amount of hail, it freaked me out. Just glad no plants were ripped up or smashed.

Featured Answer

zkathy z7a NC

5 years ago

You're so lucky! An inch of hail! I’m glad all your hostas are ok.

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Comments (6)

peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
5 years ago
You have been having an eventful weather year Esther. Happy you had no damage.
Esther-B, Zone 7a thanked peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
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nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
5 years ago
glad your hostas are fine..hail has been in some of my weather forecasts but so far I've escaped..the snow left some damage on the foliage here and there on all types of plants in my yard..nothing I could do about it...
Esther-B, Zone 7a thanked nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
djacob Z6a SE WI
5 years ago
Omg! What wild and wacky weather you have been happening! We had hail several weeks back that turned into snow. Fortunately my pips were just barely showing and I had covered some those that were up! Thank goodness! Today it’s 54 in Milwaukee. Well below normal. Too cold for me to go out to the garden! 🥶

debra
Esther-B, Zone 7a thanked djacob Z6a SE WI
Esther-B, Zone 7a
Original Author
5 years ago
I would have posted a pic of the hail piled up in my window box, but yesterday was the Sabbath, and one cannot take pictures or use the computer on the Sabbath. But if you imagine overturning a bunch of paper cups of Coke with ice over on my window box, you'd get the idea of how it looked. Went out on the balcony today and fortunately, saw no hail damage. Still worried about no pips from Ripple Effect, Paisley Print, Cameo, Grand Prize, Dinner Mint, Smiling Sailor and a couple more. Paradise Island sent up 1 pip last week, but it seems in stasis; has not grown more, nor have any additional pips emerged in the pot. Could this have to do with the low temps we've been having? In the 60s/day and 40s/night?
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
5 years ago
Hail is the worst. Hail is what originally brought me to this hosta forum. I was seeking advice on how to best recover the hostas.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/3124693/hail-obliteration#n=12

We get freaky big hail here. The storm that obliterated mine in 2015 was small compared to what we had in 2018.