Pensacola New Journal-
Thunderstorm and tornado watches and the rare sight of hail dominated the weather Saturday in the Pensacola Bay Area.
Golfball-sized hail pelted Pensacola residents in the Cordova Park area Saturday morning before softball-sized hail pounded Milton residents soon afterward. The National Weather Service said the storms were widespread. A tornado watch for Northwest Florida was in effect until 9 p.m.
At 10:40 a.m. Bobby Kay, 50, had pulled into the driveway of his home on Fox Road in Cordova Park when he heard something that sounded like a pellet gun hit his pickup truck.
"You could almost see it coming the sky was ominous," Kay said. "You could hear about 10 car alarms go off."
A hail stone smacked Kay's head when he ran into the house to get his video camera.
"Man, it hurt. Thank God, I had a baseball cap on," Kay said. A hail stone left a circular mark on Kay's windshield and pelted the paint off his truck.
Severe weather is typical starting in the spring, said Gene Jacobi, a meteorological technician at the National Weather Service.
"But the large hail is rather uncommon," Jacobi said.
Henry Gilmore, 88, of Pace was visiting his wife, Catherine, at Heritage Nursing Home in Milton Saturday morning. As he was leaving, the nursing home's parking lot, it started to hail.
"All of a sudden the ice just started falling out of the sky. I've never seen anything like it," Gilmore said. "I mean, I'm telling you, the ground was covered."
Hail "bumped" the roof of Gilmore's car, and then, "three big ices hit the windshield and cracked it," he said. "I've seen snow, but never ice like this."
Phil Marshall, a used car manager at Pete Moore Chevrolet in Warrington, said he couldn't assess the damaged until the cars dry.
"Generally, you don't have much notice, and there's not much you can do to prepare," he said, adding that he received about 10 minutes' notice that the storm was coming giving his staff enough time to move some of the more expensive cars inside.
There are companies that specialize in removing dents left in cars by hail storms, but he expects some of the hail-damaged cars will be sold in Pete Moore's inventory reduction sale.
AMAZING
