Friday Afternoon Hail Pelts State College

State College weather has seen it all over the past few days, and things got even crazier on Friday with some afternoon hail.

Hail began falling around 3 p.m. and lasted for approximately 10 minutes according to Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. 

It may take people by surprise, but hail during the summer is not too uncommon says Kines. 

“This is the first notable time this year, but it can occur during summer thunderstorms,” he says. “It usually happens a few times during the season, and surface temperature isn’t a huge factor. There can still be hail even when it’s really warm out.”

Hail forms after it starts raining when rising air brings rain drops back towards the atmosphere. As the drops get higher, they begin to freeze which leads to a cycle of hail. As the cycle repeats, the hail gets bigger, explained Kines. 

Hail reached the size of nickels and quarters on Friday afternoon, pelting vegetable gardens and aluminum siding on some houses, but damage was not too bad overall. 

“In the middle part of the country, you often get hail the size of golf balls, sometimes even as big as a baseball or softball that can do some serious damage.”

“Yesterday was some pretty significant hail for this area, but thankfully the storm wasn’t too violent.” 

Click here for the latest AccuWeather forecast on the StateCollege.com homepage.