Red Lion looks like winter after hail storm

(Red Lion) — It looked like winter in parts of York County – Red Lion in particular – when nickel-sized hail pounded the area and piled up on the roads Monday.

“I’ve never seen hail like this,” said 60-year-old Jon Persing, code enforcement officer with Red Lion borough. “It almost was like snow.”

He saw a small car get hung up briefly on the road because of the hail. He saw a woman using a styrofoam cup to clear her windshield.

“It looked like wintertime,” said Mitch Riddle, a manager at Riddle’s Appliance Center in Red Lion.

The hail fell when a potent thunderstorm rolled through the area Monday afternoon. Many thunderstorms contain hail, but it often melts before it reaches the ground, said Rich Jaworski, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.com.

In this case, a big pocket of cold air above the surface allowed the hail to reach the ground, he said.

According to the Storm Prediction Center, communities in South Central Pennsylvania see severe hail – measuring 1-inch in diameter or greater – four to six days out of the year. That’s based on data from 2003 to 2012, Jaworski said.

The Red Lion Fire Department was not aware of any major damage in the area on Monday evening, Lt. Bryan Townsend said.

As of late Monday afternoon, a claim had been reported to H.N. Fishel & Associates Inc. The hail had shredded a cloth awning, said Dave Fishel, an insurance agent.

The hail also stripped trees of leaves, Townsend said.

A few other communities reported that hail fell Monday:

Hail falling and piling up is not something that is seen all the time, but it does happen, Tyburski said.

“It’s a unique event,” he said.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and the York Daily Record.