Hailstorm in Corozal villages
There was a very booming thunderstorm experienced in some parts of the country on Wednesday night. But a weather event that happened today topped that and had people buzzing about it this afternoon. A rare weather occurrence passed over the Corozal District after three o'clock this afternoon. The villages of Santa Rita, Ranchito and Calcutta were all showered by a hailstorm that lasted about five minutes. News Five spoke to Darren Bradley of Calcutta Village, who went outside when the banging of ice pellets hit his roof.
Via Phone: Darren Bradley, Corozal Resident
"I deh dah Calcutta Village and about fifteen minutes ago, we had a hard rain weh bring hailstone. The hailstone last like five to six minutes soh."
Jose Sanchez
"Like the size of ice cubes or were they big?"
Via Phone: Darren Bradley
"No more like some little round ice like."
Jose Sanchez
"And did you have any strange weather prior to that?"
Via Phone: Darren Bradley
"No, just that when the rain come, it come with lot of breeze just now; like wah lee storm like just now."
Jose Sanchez
"And anybody get any windows or vehicles or anything damage?
Via Phone: Darren Bradley
"Well I noh conscious of that so far because I deh home."
Jose Sanchez
"But this is the first time you've seen something like that in Calcutta?"
Via Phone: Darren Bradley
"First time I saw it. About a year and a half to two years ago, it happen same way but just like wah lee minute and ih done."
Jose Sanchez
"Was anybody frightened by it or everyone was just amazed to see it?"
Via Phone: Darren Bradley
"Well amazed to see it; the first time in my life."
Following the hailstorm, a heavy rain drenched parts of Corozal Town.�
Channel 5
It Rained Hail In Corozal
In case you haven't felt the heat lately then let me tell you that today Belize experienced a record breaking temperature of 100 degrees meaning that today was extremely hot as the temperature soured. But according to forecaster Francisca Wellington, the scorching heat, which has nothing to do with climate change, should be nothing new to Belizeans.
Forecaster Francisca Wellington
"This is the dry season and this is the normal temperature that occurs during the dry season, we had up to hundred and four, just last month in Central Farm an just yesterday I believe it was hundred and two or hundred and three that was recorded at Central Farm, so we are seeing that there is areas of low pressure over us what we call heat lows meaning that the winds will not be blowing very strongly it is light and we have this heating so because of that we are expecting the temperatures to go very high especially for the inland areas."
While we experienced high temperatures during the day tonight is expected to be cooler.
Forecaster Francisca Wellington
"There is this current condition is that a cold front is moving down into the Gulf of Mexico towards us and there is a feature ahead of this that we call a pre-frontal draft so in my forecasts for today I have express that later in this afternoon and in the evening over inland areas especially in the north we will be seeing an increase in shower activity and thunder showers and all of this is because of the heating plus the approach of that pre-frontal draft."
According to Forecaster Wellington, during this same time last year temperatures were not as high. The highest temperature recorded in Belize's history was in 1973 when the capital city of Belmopan recorded a temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit. And believe it or not it rained hail in Corozal today at around 2:30 this afternoon. Pictures sent to CTV3 News are proof of what we are reporting. Reports are that after a morning of intense heat the weather changed in Corozal and after 2:00pm there was a powerful thunderstorm. This was followed by a hail storm which took Corozalenos by surprise, at least those living in Ranchito, Santa Rita and Corozal Town. The hail storm lasted for about five minutes and several persons we spoke to via phone, told us they thought stones were hitting their roofs and when they went outside, they saw hail stones the size of marbles.
Hail forms as a result of the strong updrafts common in severe weather systems. When a strong convective cell forms, warm air rises and cool air sinks. If there is a sufficient amount of super cooled water, accumulation of ice can begin in the clouds.
Rising air will often reach a point in the atmosphere that is below freezing (hence, ice will form). The ice is suspended in the air by the strong updrafts and will later fall back down. This process will repeat over and over adding layer upon layer to the hailstone. If you cut a hailstone in half, you would see alternating concentric layers inside it. As the hail falls, it may melt to varying degrees only to be picked up again and carried high into the atmosphere to re-freeze. Therefore, very large hailstones form with many repeated cycles.
CTV3