Wierd Science

California has lately experienced some strange pheonomenon where giant hail stones randomly fall.

In Loma Linda, Calif., Thursday a chunk of ice the size of a microwave oven came crashing through the roof of a recreation center, the San Francisco Chronicle reported...

April 8 in Oakland a similar ice ball plunged to earth in a field at a park, making a 2-foot crater in the ground.

Dang - a 2-foot crater in the ground? A chunk of falling ice the size of a microwave? That's bad stuff. I wonder what could be causing this? Fortunately, Jesus Martinez-Frias of the Planetary Geology Laboratory in Madrid has the explanation, and before I offer it, I just want to affirm that he did indeed suggest this:

global warming has caused a new, steeper temperature difference between warm and cold air in the upper atmosphere that generates turbulent up-and-down winds, repeating the hail-formation process, even without a thunderstorm.

There you have it. We have expected drought conditions over much of America, expected record high temperatures, and this all produces ice the size of microwaves that smashes into the ground to create 2-foot craters.

Unbelievable.

Side notes: these giant hunks of ice are called megacryometeors. Cool name for a big hailstone. Martinez-Frias pioneered research on megacryometeors back in 2000 after ice chunks weighing almost 7 pounds rained on Spain for 10 days during a period of cloudless skies.

The heaviest megacryometeor recorded fell in Brazil (according to the wikipedia), weighing in at a hefty 220 kg! In Americanese, that is 485 freaking pounds!

Megacryometeor picture from misterije.org

Tags: Global Warming