On This Day In History: Freaky Falling Frozen Frogs

On This Day In History: June 16, 1882 on 12seconds.tv

The below citation comes from The Monthly Weather Review and was originally found at andthensome.com.

For thirteen minutes, commencing at 2:45 p.m., the largest and most destructive hailstones fell that were ever seen at this place. The hailstones measured from one to seventeen inches in circumference, the largest weighing one pound twelve ounces [794 grams]. Washington park was literally covered with hailstones as large as lemons, and large basketballs could be gathered in a few minutes. They exhibited diverse and peculiar formations, some being covered with knobs and icicles half an inch in length; others were surrounded by rings of different colored ice with gravel and blades of grass imbedded in them. The foreman of the Novelty Iron Works, of this city, states that in two large hailstones, melted by him, were found small living frogs. A number of persons were severely cut and bruised by the falling hailstones. The damage inflicted is estimated at $5,000 [1882 dollars]. One florist lost 2,387 panes of glass. Hundreds of windows of south and west exposure were broken, including twenty windows of heavy French glass. Railroad men report that hail fell at 2 p.m. at McGregor, forty miles to the northwest. No hail fell on the eastern side of the Mississippi [river], or at Julien, six miles west of this city.

See page fourteen, left column, from this PDF document from The Monthly Weather Review, June, 1882 for the actual hail report quoted above.

Regarding The Monthly Weather Review:

The Monthly weather review first began publication in July 1872. It was issued by the Office of the Chief Signal Officer from 1872 until 1891. In 1891 the duties of the Signal Office transferred to the new Weather Bureau where the Review was published until June 1966. From Aug. 1966-Oct. 1970, it was published by the United States Environmental Science Services Administration. When the Bureau became part of the newly-formed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Review was published by NOAA until the end of 1973. In 1974 publication was turned over to the American Meteorological Society which continues publishing it as a subscription.

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