*BANG!!*

Sitting upstairs last night, suddenly jolted out of our skins by a loud bang from directly overhead... followed by smaller smacks and pops and more intermittent loud detonations. It took a few seconds to recognize this as the sound of hailstones on the metal roof -- some of them BIG hailstones.

Switching into Official Capacity I ran down the steps and out to the front porch with a flashlight to see just how big they were. It wasn't torrent of them, but it only took a few second to spot some icy golfballs scattered about the front yard. So, I grabbed the phone and called in my Official spotter report. It feeds yer latent megalomaniacal tendencies to call in your spotter report and then hear the alarms go off with the severe thunderstorm warning a minute later [alas, actually, the battery in the weather radio was dead so this time I had to be satisfied with watching the warning pop up on the map on the NWS OHX home page]. Not quite like the tennis balls that fell in the spring of '03, but still makes you glad for the sturdy roof overhead.

Of course the thunderstorm presaged a cold snap, and we might get our first dusting of snow tonight. Or, we might not...