Hailstorm @ Mont' Kiara

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A hailstorm hit Mont' Kiara last Thursday 25/3/2010. It started around 5.30pm with an innocent, typical downpour. I went round checking all the windows and sliding doors. Within 10 minutes, the wind gave howling sound. I looked out the balcony door, the condo towers nearby were not invisible anymore. The wind was like tornado. It was scary shit!

Then my son shouted out to me from his room, "Mommy, it is raining ice-cubes!" Urgh? Then, I heard loud knocks against the windows coupled with lightning and thunder. True enough, falling pellets were flying in all directions and some hitting the glass panes. There were even louder knocks of these pellets hitting the air conditioners' condensing units at the backyard. What a massive storm, it was really terrifying. I told my son to stay put in his room. However, my curiosity has caused me to sneak out into the backyard and I managed to snap pics of the hailstones.

The pellets are the size of a 20 sen coins, but melted quickly once hit the warmer surface.

This is what our weatherman said in the news the following day, "Hailstorms occasionally happen in Malaysia, but usually the pellets are very small and fall in a localised area. Some clouds can build-up until they are very high in the atmosphere. At certain altitudes, the cold will cause the water droplets to freeze and form ice. When it rains, the pellets fall down too fast to melt, causing hailstones.”