A freak storm swept through Melbourne this afternoon. Was on the way to get some groceries. The sky was extremely dark. The temperature wasn’t cold though. Probably mid 20s. Not the sort of temperature you’d expect to get hails, not to mention a hailstorm. I was expecting heavy rain but all of a sudden, loud thuds began. Not just hail but a hailstorm. I don’t know what the size of the hailstones shooting down are but they must be huge to be able to make loud thuds when they landed on the car. I was stunned. Not because there is a hailstorm but because of the damage it is inflicting on the car. I was very concerned about the windscreen being smashed with each ball of hail hitting it. And the wounds. It was a painful moment but nothing can be done to stop it. Was out on the road, in the open. Visibility was close to zero. There was nowhere undercover to take shelter. Had to keep driving and finally noticed and turned into an undercover carpark of a furniture shop. There were lots of cars and people taking shelter in there. But it was close to the end of the hailstorm by then. Only a few minutes in there and people started leaving. It had stopped. I wished the shelter was closer. I wished more that i hadn’t gone out or should have gone out an hour later. Why does it have to be at that exact moment…not earlier, not later.

Driving out from the carpark, i noticed the hail was about the size of a 50 or 20 cents coin or probably bigger. I found a couple of pictures of the pingpong ball-sized hailstones on The Age -

Inspecting the extent of the damage. Not good at all. I know it’s not the end of the world but… just in pain.
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