Ok, not snow. But the heavy hail we got tonight made it feel like snow. There’s a thick white crunchy layer on the ground. The trees have been pummeled, releasing a sweet evergreen scent. It feels like it should be Christmas.

On our way home from the Bulldog we hit heavy baseball game traffic and detoured away from the standstill highway. Out west the rain got heavier, whacking the car windshield. The wipers couldn’t keep up. Ben called and warned us that there was three inches of hail in Lakewood, but that it had stopped falling. We creeped along Colfax. Most of the businesses were dark – multiple power outages. We glided through the street with rivulets of rainwater and floating ice. It looked like the arctic. There was low swirling fog from the ice condensing on hot asphalt, illuminated by colored stoplights, police cars, and fire engines.

Our cars escaped damage (yay carports!) and we are one of the few in our building whose windows were not broken. We replaced our ancient windows the summer we bought the house. I think they were stronger and had springier screens that could withstand the force of the hail. Our neighbors are all milling around outside picking up the broken glass and buzzing about Channel 4 news supposedly coming out to cover the storm. We feel very fortunate to have no damage.

I had taken the Flip camera out with me today to do a 5×5 video. After dropping off friends I got some action on the road and at our house. Here’s a little clip of us enjoying the crazy lightening.

Hailstorm Aftermath from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.