What the Hail?

Despite the quintessential weather of my typical rainforest village in southern Rwanda, I sat wide eyed through what can only be described as an apocalyptic hail storm last night. The wind started to pick up in the afternoon, I can’t remember the last time I saw a blue sky at 3pm. Rains began to fall as dark clouds smothered the atmosphere, the calm before the storm was always my favorite part. But then, something different happened. The rain didn’t illicit it’s usually dull pinging noise off the tin shingles of my roof. Instead it blasted against every surface of my home, offering a harsh ruckus of noise in return. I sat upright listening in my living room. A cold draft swept underneath my door and encompassed my bare feet and hands. There was a serious chill in the air. My curiosity led me to the door, which I opened only to be violently pelted with nickel sized hail. It was hailing in Rwanda. It was hailing in Rwanda? I wish I would have taken a picture to prove it but once I got that door closed there was no way I was opening it again. The hail collected in heaps on the ground outside, it actually kind of reminded me of snow, of what a Pennsylvania winter might look like. Except it was dangerous snow that could give you a concussion. Also, try pitching an ice cube at a tin pot, multiply that sound by infinity, and put that sound inside the echoing walls of a cave. THAT was my audio for the night. I couldn’t listen to the radio, I couldn’t concentrate to read, I couldn’t hear myself think so I just sat and stared until it was over. I know nothing really about meteorology so I don’t know if it was all that out of the ordinary to hail cats and dogs here in East Africa. There’s probably some cold front/warm front/rainforest/equator/monsoon season combination that made the skies unleash such fury. All I know is that I never want to be stuck outside when it decides to happen again. Just being pelted for a minute was unpleasant enough. Lastly, please excuse my nauseatingly cheesy title of this entry, I couldn’t help myself.