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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 |
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50-POUND 'ICE BOMB' FALLS IN WEST VIRGINIA
June 26, 1990. Jerry's Run, West Virginia.
"Heisel and Alice Amos, and their grandson, Aaron Hupp, had just turned on a movie on television when the house was jarred with what Mrs. Amos thought was an explosion."Looking out the front door, they saw their son, Donald, 43, looking in the direction of their television satellite dish some 30 yards away where something had hit the ground with a terrific impact.
"Inspecting that area, they found a hole some 24 inches long and 18 inches wide, and about four to six inches deep filled with large chunks of broken ice. Amos said pieces of baseball- and marble-size ice were scattered in a 30-foot radius around the hole."
Further facts from this newspaper account:
- Several other chunks of ice were found in an area about 1 mile long.
- Some chunks made whistling sounds as they fell.
- The larger chunks were completely transparent except for a yellowishbrown streak.
- Many of the chunks had sand in them.
- Some contained holes.
- The weather was clear.
- The Federal Aviation Administration stated that if the ice originated in aircraft toilets it would have been blue from the chemicals used.
(Hawk, Harold; "50-Pound 'Ice Bomb' Falls near Jerry's Run," Parkersburg News, June 27, 1990. Cr. M. Frizzell)
Reference. You can find much more data on "hydrometeors" (large chunks of falling ice) in GWF1 in our catalog: Tornados, Dark Days. Information on this book can be found here.