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Then came the hail: Bay Area beholds yet another weather spectacle

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Published  January 10, 2023 11:08pm PST
Weather
KTVU FOX 2

We've seen mudslides, thunderstorms, and now...hail

Tuesday's thunderstorms with multiple lightning strikes throughout the Bay Area were just the latest weather spectacle for residents to behold. This afternoon's storms even brought some hail.

OAKLAND, Calif. - The wind and rain turned icy in San Francisco Tuesday and across much of the East Bay.

People sent KTVU their videos, which captured a quick moving hail storm that left pellet sized ice on the ground. People also captured images of lighting striking Sutro Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid.

Then came the hail.

 Pellet sized ice fell during the start of the noon hour in San Francisco. By 12:30pm, the hail had made its way to the Oakland Hills where it fell in Steve Tessler’s backyard.

"First there was lightning and then there was thunder, then all of a sudden it starts raining and then all of a sudden it starts hailing," Tessler said. "The hail lasted a good four of five minutes."

There was so much hail, it looked more like snow on the streets of the Parkridge Estates neighborhood.

"It was just truly amazing," Darlene Jan, another resident, said. "I’ve never seen that much hail or thunder and lightning here in the Bay Area. I used to live in Sedona Arizona and we would have monsoon rains… as soon as we heard the thunder and lightning we ran out front."

The hail quickly came and went and while most melted, some stayed behind in patches on rooftops and patios. People don't recall ever seeing weather like the stretch of storms the Bay Area has had for the past few days.

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"I think it’s unusual we’ve had this much rain in a short period of time," Cecil Rodrigues said. "The rain is tremendous. I don’t think I’ve seen it this strong in 20 plus years."

Tessler has two weather stations in his yard, one on an antenna and the other on a shed. He uses an app to track the rainfall and said one and a half inches of rain fell on his property Tuesday, bringing the monthly total to 9.4 inches of rain so far.

"It’s long overdue," Tessler said. "The problem is there’s just so much as one time. If it was spaced out a bit it would probably be better for the ground and better for everyone else, but we definitely need the water."