Storm Australian Severe Weather Forum

Severe Weather Discussion => General Weather - all topics not current severe weather. => Topic started by: Mike on 29 July 2007, 08:07:54 AM

Title: Giant chunks of 'Ice'
Post by: Mike on 29 July 2007, 08:07:54 AM

Found this on CNN.com ! 

 DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) -- Large chunks of ice, one of them reportedly about 50 pounds, fell from the sky in this northeast Iowa city, smashing through a woman's roof and tearing through nearby trees.
Jan Kenkel holds a piece of ice that fell through the roof of her Dubuque, Iowa, home on Thursday.
Authorities were unsure of the ice's origin but have theorized the chunks either fell from an airplane or naturally accumulated high in the atmosphere -- both rare occurrences.

I personally think it's the waste from the aircraft's toilet system - and she's handling it!

Any guesses as to what height it dropped to gather that much ice?

Photo credit to www.cnn.com

Mike

Title: RE: Giant chunks of 'Ice'
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 30 July 2007, 04:38:54 AM

Hi,

Yes these are now being reported in various parts of the world. I note that such massibe chunks of ice being reported in Spain if i recall and also further back in time reports in China of large hail the size of basketballs. The updraft strengths would have had to hav been extreme to support such weight but at least we know it is was most likely the same thing as in this article.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

Title: RE: Giant chunks of 'Ice'
Post by: Lightening Display on 03 September 2007, 07:56:18 PM

WOW! That is one huge hail stone!

Seriously, that is huge.

Title: RE: Giant chunks of 'Ice'
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 04 September 2007, 12:36:43 AM

The origins of these large chunks of ice are most likely not storms because storms produce extremely powerful updrafts supporting such hailstone sizes/weights. Thus they are just large chunks of ice probably falling from accumulation of ice on aeroplanes aloft. They are not in any way hailstones.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

Title: Re: Giant chunks of 'Ice'
Post by: Jeff Brislane on 04 September 2007, 02:19:52 AM

With these chunks of ice I suspect that they are in fact caused by the effects of aircraft on moist air in the upper atmosphere and not by accumulation and definately not by aircraft toilets which have closed systems that are pumped out on the ground. By effects I'm thinking that it might created in a similar way to contrails and other high level condensation. Imagine if by chance some ice could get caught in the planes slipstream before it becomes too heavy and falls away. I wonder if that's possible?