Seattle Hailstorm

We Seattlites take a lot of ribbing from the rest of the world about our notorious and ever-present rain.

It's true. We get a lot of rainy days here.

But what most non-locals don't understand is that the rain in these parts doesn't fall like most rain. 

It's a slow, soft rain, more of a mist actually.

On the average rainy day here, the drops fall so gently that they make no sound, no mad drumming on the rooftop or even constant patter into puddles as in most other parts of the world. 

One surefire way to prove this fact is to look at any street full of Seattle pedestrians on a rainy day. We don't use umbrellas. A basic fleece jacket, or even a sweatshirt with a hood.is all we need to stay reasonably dry.

If there was only one thing I wish the world would grasp about the infamous Seattle rain, it's that we don't get more rain, we get slower rain. 

Please, help me pass the word. 

Important Seattle Weather Fact Number Two comes straight from today's headlines: especially in springtime, we get a surprising amount of hail.

Certainly, we are not known for extreme weather of any kind, but the truth is that every spring, we encounter a few episodes of bouncy white balls of ice falling from our skies.

Today's episode - the second in the past week or so - filled my yard with  icy pellets. I'd say they were about the size of the red rubber eraser on the end of a standard #2 pencil. 

I love to watch hail fall. If they hit a soft surface, like the grass or garden, the hailstones drop quietly into place and stay put, but when they drop onto a hard surface - roof, patio, sidewalk, driveway - the crazy devils bounce with great abandon. I find it endlessly entertaining to stand at a second story window and watch them careen wildly off the roof and then ricochet around the patio. 

Today, Gracie and I headed out for our walk just as the hail was transitioning into rain. Though much of it was melting fast, we still found some nice pockets of icy hailstones tucked in my garden beds among the spring bloomers. 

But mostly we just got wet. 

Well. Gracie got wet. Happily, I was snug and dry inside my Seattle-rain-proof fleece jacket.