Summer Hail Storm in Bozeman

Yesterday, June 30, a thunderstorm and hail storm hit Bozeman and really caused some damage.

I took pictures of the storm as it approached from the south. The clouds were really dark and roiling, and had a strange greenish hue to them. The clouds were moving fast, and what had been a still afternoon was suddenly chaotic.

Strong winds preceded the hail storm by a couple of minutes, and the winds bent trees and plants over, broke tree limbs and sent them crashing onto my roof and into the yard and street, and the temperature dropped fifteen degrees or so a few minutes before the hail hit.

The first to hit was golf-ball sized hail; the big stuff hit first, and hard. It was sustained for 8-10 minutes, and the hail bounced high off the lawn and street. The hail pounded cars and broke windows, windshields, house siding, eaves.

Lighter hail followed and piled up against curbs and stairs, and in planters and eaves troughs. It was quite the storm event; I dragged big downed limbs away from the house, but one is still on the roof (our arbor care guys are here next week, and will get it cut down).

Some pictures from the storm. Most are mine, but some have been posted to twitter, facebook, and the newspaper site, and they’re courtesy of Jessie Smania, Suzy Taylor, Scott Brennan, Rebecca Soule, and Joseph Shaw, a doctor at Montana State University.