“What was unique about this event was that in some parts of the metro the hail did not instantly melt and accumulated in piles that were visible long enough to be photographed.”

“The last major hail event in our metro also occurred in April, way back in 1993.”

“Without getting overly technical, this event was caused by the dryline of the leading edge of a cut-off low.”

“hail forms in cumulonimbus clouds with strong updrafts that suspend the water droplets, which eventually form into hail through their movement up and down inside the cloud as they grow.”

“The size is determined by the strength of a thunderstorm’s updraft, and the hail falls to the ground when the updraft can no longer sustain the weight of the hailstone.”

“In areas close to the Drakensburg in the former Transkei, mountain waves further amplify the effects of the updrafts and suspend the hail for longer, causing hailstones of up to almost grapefruit size that have been known to be fatal, especially for livestock in the open.”

“The worst incident on record occurred in the village of Settlers near Bela-Bela, where, in 1936, 10 workers were killed by massive hailstones while working in an open field and unable to find shelter.”

“Closer to home, the Boknes-Cannon Rocks area is also susceptible to large damaging hail, and I have in the past had reports of a large part of Boknes’s windows being shattered with hail larger than a golf ball.”

“residents of KuGompo City were treated to a fantastic display of lightning on Sunday night, out over the sea.”

“The same cumulonimbus cloud that produces the hail, produces the lightning and one must realise that these clouds can reach up to 12–20km or more in height, thus making them visible from miles away.”

“As thunder is typically audible for up to 16-24km and these clouds were more than 100km out to sea, that is the reason why no thunder was heard and residents thought it was such a strange phenomenon.”

“As to the cause of this event, it is simply the interaction between a cold air mass and the warm Agulhas current off the east coast of SA, which is a key driver of severe convective activity (thunderstorms) in this region.”

“2006: Water restrictions are implemented in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro”