Hail!

For a place that's sunny more than 300 days a year, it's pretty darn amazing to think about all the weather extremes we've experienced over the past 13 months.  After yesterday's storms, we can now add an awesome hailstorm to the list!  Check this out!

Our hailstorm was so intense that: (a) it knocked open the mailboxes you see, and (b) the green you see on the ground is actually not grass, but rather tree leaves that the hail knocked off.  See?

Amazingly, just seconds after the hail ended, the sun reappeared and everything began melting rapidly.  

What's also amazing is that this isn't even the first strong hailstorm I've experienced out here.  Here's the scene in Fort Collins that followed a spring thunderstorm.  

All in all, I'd say the Front Range is a great place to be a weather buff, and a bad place to be a plant.