Hail in Key West

[lswote]

This has nothing to do with the forum, but I drove to Key West today with my wife and about 4:00 it started to rain and by 4:30 it was hailing.  It was 80 degrees when the rain started and by the time it was hailing, the temperature dropped to 69.  I had heard you could have hail in warmer climates but this is my first experience with it.  At first I just heard the hail over the rain, but eventually it got big enough to see.  I was afraid it was going to dent my Mercedes, but fortunately it didn't do any damage other than scare the bejesus out of my wife.

Okay, you can go back to what you were doing. Thanks for you time.

[Craig]

... in response to Hail in Key West, posted by lswote on Apr 27, 2003

Bill Nye the science guy here. Hail is just rain drops which have been pushed high into the atmosphere by swift upper air currents which cause them to freeze. Each trip they make up into the clouds up drafts they grown in size until they become 2 heavy for the draft and fall to the grown.

[jim c]

... in response to Hail in Key West, posted by lswote on Apr 27, 2003

why didn't you tell me you were coming I would have showed you around. First time I have seen hail here in twenty years. jim

[Locii]

... in response to Re: Hail in Key West, posted by jim c on Apr 28, 2003

Hi All,

Ok so Sunday afternoon I am sitting at my computer in the back room browsing latinas...suddenly I hear whack, whack, whack on my skylight.  Next thing you know I'm getting pelted with the largest hail I have ever seen, as it bounces off my deck, into my back room and off me and my computer.

The scientific explanation aside, I know it was a simple wrath of God experience since my ex-wife called 2 minutes later.  

I have been in Key West almost eight years and that was really something.

So Jim we've missed you at Sun. morning breakfast lately.

Rog

[jim c]

... in response to Re: Re: Hail in Key West, posted by Locii on Apr 30, 2003

Welcome to the site Roger. I am sure you will find good info here as well as a chance to view varied opinions on women. Along with this you have the opportunity to witness flame wars, troll siteings and some really bizaar statements by some really strange people. Although lately it has been very quiet and I might add boreing. Actually the real neurotics are hanging out at the Latin Womens List nowadays. jim

[lswote]

... in response to Re: Hail in Key West, posted by jim c on Apr 28, 2003

Thanks Jim.  It was a pretty much spontaneous thing.  The weather was pretty iffy, but I just needed to get out of the city for awhile, so I decided to take a chance. I will keep you in mind on my next trip.

[Craig]

... in response to Re: Hail in Key West, posted by jim c on Apr 28, 2003

hey jim... how's Adriana and Bud doing, my fiancee is Adriana's good friend. Say hi to Norm if you here form him

[A1A]

... in response to Hail in Key West, posted by lswote on Apr 27, 2003

I've been down to Key West 3 times, a total of 3 weeks and never saw a drop of rain.  I wanna go back.. to the islands...time to pull out my old Buffett albums..
A1A

[Pete E]

... in response to Hail in Key West, posted by lswote on Apr 27, 2003

Reminds me of a book I saw on speaking southern.Atlanta was Etlanta.Hail was where general Sherman went for what he did to Etlanta.

Pete

[Michael B]

... in response to Hail in Key West, posted by lswote on Apr 27, 2003

We have it all the time in Texas, had 3 hail storms in 1 weekend about a month ago (golf ball size in some parts of Dallas, only about dime size at my place). My advice: When it starts to hail, get you car (and yourself) under cover---gas station, mall, what ever, even if you have to pay to park in a commercial lot or sneak into an apartment complex carport. I once had a hail damagged Mercedes, a 1968 200D sedan (been a few years ago, ha ha) great car until it needed a part ($$$), which despite their reputation for reliability, was way too often, so I unloaded it and got a 1966 Dodge (hey, I SAID it was a few years ago).

[Pete E]

... in response to Re: Hail in Key West, posted by Michael B on Apr 27, 2003

I used to buy European cars out of Texas.I had heard about hail damaged cars,then I saw one at an auction.It was beat to sh!t.All these golf ball size dents.A nightmare for a body shop to ever try to fix.
I got in a hail storm on a lake in Idaho one time.We were in an open boat.We had to stop and it beat the hell out of us.All we had was towels and life jackets to try and protect ourselves.It never got to golf ball size or we would have been in the water under the boat.It happens in the summer,not the winter.Layers of cold air at high elevations even if its warm on the ground.

[Michael B]

... in response to Your right about tat, posted by Pete E on Apr 27, 2003

Man, golf ball size ones can KILL you. Hey, there's an old Okie technique that works most of the time to fix hail dents, it involves a propane torch, plenty of wet towels and some dry ice. Heat the dent (being as careful as possible not to scorch the paint) then put a piece of dry ice on it...when you hear the 'ping', quickly cover it with a wet towel, wait until the towel quits steaming and move on to the next one. There are three kinds of hail dents, those where the metal is merely pushed in and those where the metal is actualy stretched a little at the bottom of the dent by the impact and finally, those where the whole dent is stretch, or even hole (takes baseball size to do this kind of damage). For the first, you won't even know they were ever there, for the second, you will know they were there, but they will only be about 5% as ugly and I can live with that (that's how my Mercerdes was), for the last type, there ain't no help--pay big time or drive an ugly car.

-----------------ha, just remembered something, about a week ago a guy on the Russian board was complaining about people posting off topic and said "What's next? Car repair?"...so I told him how to R&R a Beetle engine.

[Pete E]

... in response to Your right about tat, posted by Pete E on Apr 27, 2003

nt