STORM TRACK: March 31, 1982 (Volume 5 Issue 3)

Considerable excitement was caused in our city last Tuesday evening by the announcement that a hailstone weighing eighty pounds had fallen six miles west of Salina, near the railroad track. An inquiry into the matter revealed the following facts: A party of railroad section men were at work Tuesday afternoon, several miles west of town, when the hailstorm came upon them. Mr. Martin Elwood, the foreman of the party, relates that near where they were at work hailstones of the weight of four or five pounds were falling, and that returning to Salina the stones increased in size, until his party discovered a huge mass of ice weighing, as near as he could judge, in the neighborhood of eighty pounds. At this place the party found the ground covered with hail as if a wintry storm had passed over the land. Besides securing the mammoth chunk of ice, Mr. Elwood secured, a hailstone something over a foot long, three or four inches in diameter, and shaped like a cigar. These 'specimens' were placed upon a hand-car and brought to Salina. Mr W.J. Hagler, the North Santa Fe merchant, became the possessor of the larger piece, and saved it from dissolving by placing it in sawdust at his store. Crowds of people went down to see it Tuesday afternoon, and many were the theories concerning the mysterious visitor. At evening its dimensions were 29 x 16 x 2 inches." --- Salina (Kansas) Journal.

(November 1959 in Coquille, Oregon)

"An unusually warm, dry, sunny month there, and very calm --until the l9th. The leaves all turned beautiful colors of brown and gold, but narry a one dropped, until the 19th. Then an approaching front brought storm force winds and a blizzard of leaves (but only 0.36" rain). The next morning was spent raking up two feet of leaves, with hardly a one left on the trees. How often does this happen?

(The exact date is not remembered but may have been February 1973 in Norman, Oklahoma)

"A morning of rain, sleet and snow gave way to intermittent light snow. At noon I noticed a line of level 3 echoes on the radar, approaching from the west. I considered going home during lunch to get my movie camera but didn't want to drive in that junk. About, 1330-1400 the line arrived; no thunder, but the flakes got bigger and bigger until they were 3" across and about an inch thick and fell like miniature parachutes only a few cm/sec. It was an unforgettable scene, but I can tell you I was utterly disgusted for not having my movie camera with me."

"November 11, 1911 (i.e. 11/11/11!) started as a beautiful Saturday afternoon to watch football at Oklahoma U. (at Norman). In fact, the temperature ture climbed all the way to 83 deg F at Oklahoma City, which was a record for that date. Suddenly the strong southerly breeze shifted to northerly, gusting to around 50 MPH, and the temperature dropped 40 deg in one hour. By midnight, it was down to 17 deg for a record low for that date. Both records still stand. Must have been a lot of unhappy football fans

--- Charles Vlcek