Weird weather struck, and a small hail storm Sunday in Philadelphia resulted in a recorded observation of snow.
Obviously, snow in July is a shocking development, especially amid the extreme heat that covered much of the northeastern U.S. last week. According to USA Today, on Sunday afternoon at Philadelphia International Airport, thunderstorms and high winds combined with hail. The local National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, recorded the observation as snow. While initially confusing, guidelines state that hail is considered frozen precipitation, which places it in the same category as snow and sleet.
While the notation seems small and silly, it made for a fun social media post. On Monday morning, the local weather service reported the hail as a "trace" of snow on X (formerly Twitter.)
Interestingly, hail has been recorded as snow 13 other times by the weather service. Notably, weather services around the country seem to vary in their approach to reporting hail versus snow in summer months. On Wednesday, the weather service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina said it is common practice to report hail as a trace of snow. Greenville's office noted a recorded "trace of snow" on July 1, 2012, when temperatures hit 107 degrees.
On the other hand, weather offices in Dallas/Fort Worth and Tallahassee do not report hail as snow.
Hail Fall Results in Weather Report of Snow in Philadelphia
Jim Zdrojewski, a climate services data program analyst at weather service headquarters, is not sure when the weather service decided to record hail as snow.
Zdrojewski said that recording hail as snow, it maintains continuity across the spectrum. When recorded this way, the forms have a column for precipitation and snow. Zdrojewski said he could not speak for the field offices. While the headquarters hands out the instructions, it can be hard to determine the procedures each individual office follows.
All in all, the process is an example of the difficulty in maintaining structure across a national platform. I suppose we will all be waiting for the next hail that may be identified as snow. Or heck, maybe it won't.
