Hail Storm in Toronto, in August?

August 7th 2008 16:00 EST

A rather powerful hail storm has just swept through the western GTA area in Toronto Ontario Canada.

Current temperature in Toronto ON. is 22 C, (approximately 72 degrees Fahrenheit).
Forecast 10% POP, 69% Humidity, Condition : Cloudy Periods.

This was certainly unexpected.

Approximately 1 inch diameter hail at times.

The thunder was the most interesting part, 10 minutes of straight thunder, no breaks between rumbling, NONE.

Pictures :

The hail I photographed had a chance to melt a bit before I took this shot, had trouble finding the camera.
This hail managed to bounce over to my balcony. Winds were heading away from the face of my balcony, so not much got onto it.


You can see the accumulation of hail on the grass and by the tree. And also in this shot...



My first suspicion was a funnel cloud, but none in sight. Visibility within the storm came down to 200 meters at a point.
Winds gusted up to what I estimate at 30 knots ( I sail ), so not enough to justify thinking it was any form of a funnel effect.

The thunder though... even after the lightning had stopped, didn't stop. It wasn't your typical thunder, coming in bursts, it was one continuous rumble lasting for 10 minutes before the first few second pause came. Then another approximately 5 minute period of continuous rumbling.

Very cool storm indeed.

And at the start of August?

[Edit to add]
Nothing in the local news yet. The storm has crossed the lake heading south towards Saint Catherines, and on toward the States.

[edit on 7-8-2008 by johnsky]

Cool... but, uh oh....

Where was this? I work at Yonge and Finch and I noticed some rain earlier but that's about it.

reply to post by johnsky


your post seems to indicate that this would be a odd occurance.. ?? thunderstorms.. producing large hail.. damaging winds.. and lots of rain.. is the norm for this time of year. Any one who has lived in that area for any time, is not surprised by a thunderstorm, esp in the middle of summer..

Point was it was a surprise hail storm, if it had been predictable, it would have been predicted, no?


Yonge and Finch is too far east. This was western GTA, including Mississauga and Oakville.

Ah, here we are, another person reported on it aswell, he got some video footage. His location is Brampton.

iReport

[edit on 7-8-2008 by johnsky]

we had the crazy thunder here and ridiculous amounts of rain in ottawa....but i'm up in an apartment so i don't know if we got hail or not.

fun day

I remember this! Downstairs playing some xbox, and suddenly a long thunderclap... Really long. Then, a few minutes later, it sounded like someone was making popcorn upstairs, so, being alone at home, I went up to check it out... and saw my back porch completely covered in hail. Kind of odd, yes, but cool, as well