WeatherSaturday, November 14
Hail piled up like snow in Parkside, and a 42-year emergency veteran says he's never seen it
The West Chester Morning News team
If you saw video of what looked like a blizzard in Delaware County, it was hail. Just after 5 p.m. Thursday, crews were shoveling Route 352 in Parkside Borough. Several drivers got stuck, and officials shut down part of the road before it reopened.
Hail turned Parkside's streets white from Thursday into Friday
- Nov. 12Severe storms begin dropping hail in Delaware County, leading to at least one road closure.
- Nov. 12Just after 5 p.m., crews shovel Route 352 in Parkside Borough.
- Nov. 13Mounds of hail still sit along the roadside Friday morning.
Sources: PHL17.com, WFMZ, FOX 29 Philadelphia
Edgmont Avenue also closed after hail overwhelmed the street. Parkside police said PennDOT crews cleared 19 inches of hail from that street and other nearby roadways. Nobody was hurt.
“In my 42 years of service for Delaware County, I've seen a lot of things. Hurricanes, blizzards, snowstorms, floods. I never in my life have seen anything like this from a hailstorm.”
- Place: Route 352 near Garrison Road in Parkside
- Cause: a supercell that spawned a tornado north of Wilmington
- Next: freezing conditions are expected after the storms
The Parkside hailstorm by the numbers
- 19 inches
- of hail cleared by PennDOT crews, Parkside police said
- 42 years
- Beebe has served Delaware County
- 20 below
- degrees, about, at the thunderstorm's tops
Sources: Media Patch, PHL17.com, WPXI
WPXI explains the cause: so much cold air aloft that the storm's tops were about 20 degrees below zero.
Sources: PHL17.com, WFMZ, Media Patch, FOX 29 Philadelphia, WPXI