The Italian city of Naples was pounded with a storm of massive hailstones on Sunday, many the size of baseballs.
The huge ice chunks caused traffic chaos, battered cars, shattered and smashed windows and injured a number of people and animals.
RT reports:The “baseball size hailstones” fell from thunderstorms at a speed of “at least 75 miles per hour,” according to Jonathan Erdman, a senior meteorologist for the Weather Channel.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
“It’s no wonder you can see the magnitude of smashed windshields and structural damage,” he added.
Video footage shows the gigantic hailstones pummeling a car windshield, shattering the glass.
Another shows the ice balls crashing into the sea alongside a boat, as shocked passengers watch them hit the water.
The hail can also be seen hammering the pavement, making a crashing sound with each hit.
The storm was caused by a southward plunge of the jet stream that carved into western Europe, sending an upper disturbance into the Italian peninsula on Saturday, according to Erdman.
That instability stirred up a thunderstorm over the Mediterranean, which swept into Italy and caused the hailstones.
While the hailstones were certainly impressive, they weren’t Europe’s most destructive. Germany holds that record, with a hailstorm that caused an estimated US$2 billion in damages in 1984.
Niamh Harris