VIDEO: Hail over 16cm wide falls in northeastern Australia

October 21, 2021

1 minute read

The hail rain that fell in eastern Australia caused minor damage to structures and vehicles in the region.

Photo: Rohan Thomson / Getty Images

On Monday, there was a record hail shower in Australia, which hit frozen rocks as large as 16 centimeters. Local authorities confirmed that it was the largest ice fall that has worsened in that country since it has been recorded.

The rain fell in Yalboroo, Queensland, near Australia’s northeast coast. Netizens recorded the fall of the hail that, they said, they were bigger than a baseball.

For its part, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology recorded a 16-centimeter-wide frozen rock, making it the largest hailstone ever reported in the oceanic country.

The previous Australian record fell in 2020 with a size of 14 centimeters wide.

The local authorities reported slight damage in the place where the hail rain intensified in which vehicles, houses and structures were affected by frozen rocks.

In addition to damage to various structures and vehicles, hail rain can also have deadly consequences.. For example, in 1888 a storm in India killed more than 200 people with frozen stones the size of “oranges and chicken eggs“According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The Australian record is far from, for example, the largest hailstone in the Western Hemisphere, it fell in South Dakota in 2010 and measured more than 20 inches wide and weighed almost two pounds, according to the WMO.

Australia is no stranger to hail rains, especially in the east of the country where they are most common. According to AccuWeather, this is due to the great atmospheric instability during the summer and spring in that country. Meteorologists indicate that these weather conditions typically cause severe thunderstorms in the region.