The news has been filled with extreme weather across the globe in the last year. From global flooding, extreme hurricane events, tornadoes, and unprecedented lightning storms to large swaths of extreme heat and extreme record-breaking cold events, there has been no shortage of things to discuss. In the latest of seemingly endless storm effects, the globe seems to be experiencing an onslaught of excessive freak hail storms. In the last few months, France, Scotland, Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and the United States have experienced wild and extreme hail storms. Other regions of the globe, such as Pakistan, India, and China, have also experienced unprecedented hail storms in the last several months.
Known for their violence and damage to cars and homes, hail storms are not to be trifled with. However, few hail storms have ever reached the level that a storm in Mexico had on Sunday. While violent thunderstorms often accompany hail, they are usually a passing event. These types of storms can appear out of the blue but are usually easily manageable. This was not the case Sunday when a freak hail storm hit the Mexican city of Guadalajara. With hail amounts reaching five feet in the city and nearly six feet in depth on the outskirts of the city, the cataclysmic storm had a staggering effect on everything from homes and cars to power, transportation, and infrastructure.
The city has been experiencing an average temperature of 88 degrees, and the sheer volume of the hail was unprecedented. The hail buried cars, damaged at least 200 homes, battered an extensive amount of business roofs throughout the city and swept away at least 50 cars. Large tractor-trailers and other vehicles were scattered throughout the city streets buried in mounds of ice making clean up difficult. Guadalajara is located just north of Mexico City and has a population of around five million people.
While summer hailstorms are not an unusual phenomenon, few if ever have recorded this amount of hail falling in a single storm. There have not been any major reports of injuries or deaths from the storm. However, several medical facilities have reported several cases of hypothermia.
Many children throughout the city and the suburbs were enjoying the white pile of snow and ice pellets, but the clean-up for the Civil Protection personnel has been a nightmare. Large machinery was brought into the city by late afternoon attempting to clear the roads in time for business on Monday.
