Ah, Hail

Posted on January 3, 2005 in Cats North Carolina Weather

Doubtless my Midwestern readers will yawn, but for us this is a big deal: it hailed outside just now. Lynn went out to pick up a prescription. When she came back she said “I think we got hail.” “Hail?” I asked. “Well, there’s something white and crunchy on the ground.” She went out in her blue overcoat and came back with a handful of ice pebbles. “Yes, that’s hail,” I conceded. It stopped before we could do something fun like take the cats out to test their footing.

When I lived in North Carolina, I had a calico cat named Brandywhine or Ms. Whine for short. She saw her first snow when she was nine months old. She whined at the back door. I let her out. She put one paw in the snow and pulled it back up. Then she pressed it deep into the accumulation. Mewed. Pulled it up again. This continued until I had enough of the warm air leaving the house. It upset her that I closed the door. She fancied herself a female, feline Janus, I suppose.

There may be ice storm nodules on the ground in the morning. I just checked out the window. You can just make out the roughness of the sky rocks amid the drizzle. This Californian hasn’t seen a hail fall in California since his childhood. Lynn’s quite used to it. I don’t know what to think should this become a regular part of our winter up here on the hill.

Predicted snow level: 4500 feet.