Hail from Hell (can I say that???)

[Mucky_Waters]

I thought some ponders might appreciate this.
We had some very impressive marble sized hail coming down here yesterday that I was lucky enough to witness first hand.
My biggest fear was that it might break the glass on my greenhouse roof. Well it didn't do that, but it sure did a number on my garden vegetable plants, and for that mater on every other leafy green plant or tree anywhere in it's path. But I think that the worst hit was the water lilies in my pond, they just don't seem to tolerate getting pelted with hail very well.
Have a look at this morning after photo.
I know they will recover just fine, but it still makes me glad I don't have any rare or expensive water lilies, or a very big pond to clean all those damaged leaves out of.

[small fish]

Oh, that is so painful .... but I am glad it did not get the greenhouse ...  how long is your pond season ??

Myra

[Loritx]

I feel for you!!!  That is one of my greatest fears living in Northeastern TX. 

[miguynmkoi]

It hurts just to look!  But..your pond looks fabulous from that small shot.  Where in Canada are you to still get hard hail storms in the summer?

[Mucky_Waters]

Im located in Oliver BC.
We' get another two months of growing season here. Plenty of time for the leaves to grow back, in fact if you look closely at that picture your see some new undamaged leaves already emerging.
I'm not too worried about it, I have always accepted the good with the bad with keeping an outdoor pond. I use to keep various large aquariums. To me having a pond is like a having a big outside aquarium/terrarium. What makes it better than any indoor aquarium/terrarium though is that you get to watch all the natural seasons happening with all their related weather systems. Burning hot sun, rain, hail and even freezing cold snowy winters. Try and simulate that in an indoor aquarium or terrarium. 

[miguynmkoi]

Thanks for the link to Oliver!  I learn so much about areas I haven't visited that I note it for just in case I'm nearby.  Vancouver has been a spot I visited many times - relatives - and need to get new places to visit nearby.  Wine country sounds very enticing indeed!

Must be the mountains nearby that cause hail havoc

[maryvonne]

Oh my what a mess. It's good that you take it so well. Miserable rain here in the Lower Mainland but at least it's still warm. Lovely looking pond. I didn't realize you lived in Oliver. Nice town. We use to camp in Osooyos when I was a kid.

Maryvonne

[Esther]

Oh no. What a mess. But mine look kind of like that too and not from hail. Sometimes I throw the fish food and it lands on the pads. My piggies keep sucking on the underside of the pads to get at the food and eventually it splits them. I wonder how they know it's up there. Can fish smell?

[bunny56lbc]

I'm glad it didn't hurt your G'house . Too bad about the lily pads tho .
bonnie

[karen J]

Mucky, you sure do have a good attitude about it. I can stand hurricanes, but I can't stand hail. The last time we had major hail here, I ended up with 2600 bucks damage to my car, and my Lotus was TOAST for the rest of the season.

Even now, several years later, if there's any hint of hail in the forcast, I run around cleaning my garage to get the van in. Then I go take pics of the pretty Lotus...

[Sandye]

I'm sorry, Murky.     We had a bad hailstorm a few years ago that shredded every plant in my pond...and garden.  I'm really glad it didn't break your greenhouse, tho. 

[thepitclub]

So sorry.. 

We had a hailstorm last week that dropped quite a bit of marble sized hail, but it only lasted a quick minute and didn't do much damage, thankfully. I wish you had been so lucky.

[tootsie]

Sorry to see the darn hail damage on your lily pads Mucky We just had high winds that knocked everything outside over, and blew the plastic shade tht goes to the baby fish pool SOMEWHERE! Lucky for GH stood strong
Esther,my piggies do the same thing! I thought perhaps they were trying to knock the food off the pads, then I saw them like yours sucking at the bottom of the pads, LOL I could sit and watch them all day long

[Mucky_Waters]

Well it has been one month since we experienced the "hail from hell" and I thought I would post an updated report for anyone who might be interested.
At the beginning of this thread I posted a picture of what my pond looked like the day after the hail, you can see that here.
It took about a week for me to clean out all the shredded bits of leaves that kind of looked to me like tossed salad floating around in the pond.I knew the lilies would recover fine, but what I didn't expect was that after the hail my turtle and frog went missing in action, and have not yet turned up so I guess they are gone for good. That really is the sad part of all this as we have had that turtle for 4 years and the same frog for 3 years.

Anyway, here is a picture of the renewed pond exactly one month after the hail. click here
And here is a short video taken with my digital camera. click here
And finally here is a short High Definition video which is a way lot clearer, (especially if viewed full screen on a large wide screen monitor). click here

 

[crazyfishlady]

Wonderful pictures and videos. Your pond is lovely. It made a beautiful recovery.

[Desertponder]

Oh how sad. That must have been frustrating indeed. I feel for all of you that deal with extreme weather from time to time.
We just don't have extreme weather here. Very seldom hails here and when it does its just little stuff that doesn't do a great deal of damage. I hope your garden and ponds recover quickly so you can keep on enjoying them.

[miguynmkoi]

You recovered extremely well!  Beautiful videos, I like the angle you shot them.  I have to contend with the heat we got this past week (while I was away).  Heat + Lilies = MUUSH 

[Ky Kim]

Looks like everything recovered remarkably well.  Your pond is beautiful, and love the sound of your falls.  Glad they bounced back to quick for you.

Kim

[marla]

Had the same thing happen to me last year, it's so sad, had pieces of pads floating for days, because they kept breaking apart.