When I read news about the hailstorm tht hit USJ Subang Jaya in Selangor, Malaysia last Sunday afternoon (around 3.15pm, 13 Nov 2011), I was, to be honest, not a bit shocked. After all, hailstorms can occur in tropical countries. With the weather patterns getting more and more crazy, and the rainy season that has been getting more and more out of sync, hailstorms are perhaps less worrying than the more common thunderstorms that can trigger massive flash floods. After all, thunderstorms here have been getting very violent lately and hailstones are the result of rain drops that start to fall above the freezing line in a thunderstorm cloud.
Whilst the Sunday afternoon hailstorm was described as 'hail-lish' (read the Malay Mail) for the residents of that area (and the repair bills afterward might be sky high), the hailstones were only about 1cm in diameter. No doubt the hailstones were big enough to be damaging to windscreens, but it was the accompanying strong winds that ripped off roofing and toppled trees which caused more severe damage to vehicles and structures (read the Star).
