Hail in San Miguel

The storm came out of nowhere. Usually we see it coming from the hills around us moving in a mass of dark clouds with shafts of dark blue reaching to the earth with rain. Not yesterday. The sky wasn't that dark but dark enough to make you think we might get some rain this afternoon. Almost as soon as the thought passed through my mind, the temperature dropped and big splats started hitting the windows. The rain came in sheets from the North and East. As usual with hard driving rains, we had some rain under the windows on the wind side. As I got a few towels, I heard the first few pings.....hail on the skylight. But then the pings become thunder. Pea size hail was gathering on patio and on the terraces. In the corners it looked a little like snow.....well as much as anything can look like snow in San Miguel. The hail lasted about 10 minutes but the hard rain continued for maybe 45 minutes. Refugio Norte looked like a river with rapids as the water rushed down the hill.

The rain stopped. The sky cleared. The air was cool and crystal clear. It was another beautiful night in San Miguel.