The climate change debate continues.

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A house was blown off it's foundations in Queensland. 

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My father told me a story many years ago, about he got caught in open station country, in a huge thunderstorm, about 1931, on Doolgunna Station, N of Meekatharra.

Doolgunna Station was owned by G. J. ("Jimmy") Howard and my father worked for him during the Great Depression. Dad was doing boundary riding on a horse when the storm blew up.

 

He was fortunate that there was a rare stand of fairly big trees not far away, and he galloped for it as the hail came down. As he made it to the trees, he said the hail turned into jagged chunks of ice, some of them around 4" (102mm) long.

He said his horse went crazy and he struggled to keep hold of it. He said the hail stripped all the bark off the trees on the windward side, and shredded all the leaves on the stand of trees.

He said it was the most frightening weather event he had ever endured, and he'd never seen a hailstorm like it again.

 

Here in Perth, we endured a monstrous hailstorm in 2010 that damaged thousands of cars, with many of them being write-offs, it damaged hundreds of buildings, caravans, signs, awnings and patios, and caused multiple millions in storm damage.

I was at a mates workshop and saw the storm coming, and we struggled to get the roller door shut, and keep it shut, the hail was piling up outside the door, about 200mm high.