Guadalajara, Mexico Had A Hail Of A Time

Hail swamps Guadalajara, Mexico over the weekend.
Photo by Ulises Ruiz/AFP/Getty Images

A hailstorm in Guadalajara, Mexico has certainly been in the news.

Over the weekend, a massive amount of hail fell in that region over the weekend. The hail, mixed with water, flowed down streets and piled up as deep as six feet in some areas around the city.

The hail flow amid the flash flooding was so intense that it busted through doors and windows to bury home interiors in ice.

Cars and trucks were also swept away.  At least 450 homes were damaged. Ten people were treated for hypothermia due to ice exposure.

That fact is incredible, since Guadalajara is in the tropics and it's the middle of summer.  You can expect cases of heat stroke this time of year, but hypothermia?

Also, that volume of hail is pretty incredible.  None of the hailstones were particularly big, but as you can see there was a hell of a lot of them. That had to be an intense thunderstorm to unleash so much hail is such a warm part of the world. Since a thick layer of the atmosphere is warm in Mexico this time of year, a lot of the hail had to have melted on the way down. And still this much accumulated.

Obviously most of Guadalajara didn't have this much hail. The photos and videos in this post show where flash flooding piled the hail into immense drifts.

Some videos are below. First one is an overview from VOA. The hail inside the house near the start of this clip is something!



Somehow this truck made it through the hail:



Another good compilation video of the hailstorm and its aftermath