A storm that dumped more than 4ft of hail on parts of Guadalajara damaged hundreds of homes, according to officials in Mexico’s second largest city.

Images shared by Jalisco state’s civil defence agency showed cars buried up to their windows in hail on Sunday.

The government brought in heavy machinery to clear streets and dig out businesses, with streets resembling rivers of ice.

The hail clogged drainage systems, leading to heavy flooding in places.

Jalisco governor Enrique Alfaro says he had never seen anything like it.

After the early morning storm, the temperature rose again to about 27C in Guadalajara.

On Monday, residents of San Miguel de Allende, a high desert community popular with US tourists, woke to several inches of hail clogging city streets.

The local government posted photographs of workers shovelling hail and of buildings damaged by fallen trees. </s> Guadalajara digs out from more than 4 feet of hail

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A storm dumped more than 4 feet (more than a meter) of hail on parts of the Guadalajara area, damaging hundreds of homes and burying cars up to their windows in some places, Mexican officials said Monday.

The Jalisco state government brought in heavy machinery to clear streets and dig out businesses in the country's second largest city. Sunday's storm left streets looking like rivers of ice, while hail clogged drainage systems, causing flooding in some spots.

Jalisco Gov. Enrique Alfaro said via Twitter that he had never seen anything like it.

Following the early morning storm, the temperature reached a high of 81 degrees in Guadalajara.

On Monday, residents of San Miguel de Allende, a high desert community popular with U.S. tourists, awoke to several inches of hail clogging city streets. The local government posted photographs of workers shoveling hail and of buildings damaged by fallen trees. </s> Guadalajara digs out from more than 4 feet of hail

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Officials in Mexico's second largest city say a storm that dumped more than 4 feet (more than a meter) of hail on parts of the Guadalajara area damaged hundreds of homes.

Images shared by Jalisco state's civil defense agency show cars buried up to their windows in hail on Sunday. The government brought in heavy machinery to clear streets and dig out businesses. Streets looked like rivers of ice.

The hail clogged drainage systems, leading to intense flooding in places.

Jalisco Gov. Enrique Alfaro says via Twitter that he's never seen anything like it.

Following the early morning storm, the temperature reached a high of 81 degrees Sunday in Guadalajara. </s> People in Guadalajara, Mexico, woke up on Sunday to a thick blanket of ice over areas of their city, after a freak hail storm that damaged houses and left cars partially buried.

This is particularly strange because it's the middle of summer. In the past month, temperatures most days have hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit or over.

Authorities say more than 450 homes were affected by the heavy hail, including some where the ice pushed through doors and windows, according to the local El Informador newspaper.

Guadalajara's mayor, Ismael del Toro, told the newspaper that 10 people had been treated for symptoms of hypothermia.

The Mexican army and local authorities were deployed to use heavy machinery to dig out the city of nearly 1.5 million people, which is among the most populous in Mexico.

"Hail more than a meter high, and then we wonder if climate change exists," Jalisco state Gov. Enrique Alfaro Ramírez wrote on Twitter. He added that authorities were working to help citizens whose homes were damaged.

"This is a natural phenomenon that we haven't seen before," the governor said in a video posted to Facebook. As he gestured to the blanketed street, he added: "The hail looks like snowfall."

As the hail melted, snowy-looking streets turned into rivers, El Informador reported, adding that some cars were swept away or pushed on top of each other. The rush of water and debris blocked a major highway for hours.

In the Rancho Blanco area of the city, which was particularly hard-hit, some 30 vehicles and 60 homes were damaged, Jalisco Civil Protection officials said on Facebook.

It's worth noting that the actual hailstones that hit Guadalajara were rather small — even smaller than a marble, according to the BBC — which might have limited some of the damage.

Hail forms when "thunderstorm updrafts are strong enough to carry water droplets well above the freezing level," according to NASA. These droplets freeze into hailstones that fall to earth.

A CNN meteorologist said a low pressure zone around the U.S.-Mexico border contributed to storm strengthening in the area. "This was a case where atmospheric and topographic ingredients came into play to cause a freakish hail storm," Michael Guy said.

As crews work to clear away the ice, they may get a hand from the weather. Guadalajara is expected to see significant melting on Monday, with likely thunderstorms and temperatures forecast to reach 81 degrees Fahrenheit. </s> The photographs that emerged from western Mexico on Sunday looked more like scenes from a postapocalyptic movie than an image of the last day of June: hills of white hailstones piled up on the streets, swallowing cars and blanketing the city in a jarring layer of ice.

The hail, which accumulated more than a metre high in some parts of Jalisco state on Mexico's Pacific Coast, baffled authorities who tried to find a way to clean up the icy mess. Hail clogged drainage systems, causing flooding in some spots.

After the early morning storm, the temperature reached 27 C in Guadalajara.

Enrique Alfaro, governor of Jalisco, wrote on Twitter that he had never seen anything like it.

"I witnessed scenes that I had never seen before: hail more than a metre high," he tweeted, "and then we ask ourselves if climate change exists."

He shared photos of excavators and plows working to clear the frosty debris from the roadway. But local authorities could not do it alone. The Mexican army also assisted in the cities of Tlaquepaque and Guadalajara, two of the hardest-hit areas, according to Alfaro.

Despite the dramatic nature of the extreme weather event, no injuries were reported. But some homes were damaged, according to local news reports.

Local residents did their best to navigate the unexpected icescape. Some clambered over the frosted mounds or walked their bikes through the piles of ice.

And children tried to make the most of the novelty of a city blanketed in ice in the middle of summer. One girl in a short-sleeved shirt lay down in a pile of hail in the middle of a street and tried to make a snow angel.

On Monday, residents of San Miguel de Allende, a high desert community popular with U.S. tourists, awoke to several inches of hail clogging city streets. The local government posted photographs of workers shovelling hail and of buildings damaged by fallen trees. </s> Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

A freak summer hail storm in Guadalajara, Mexico, submerged cars and damaged hundreds of houses Sunday morning, officials said.

Jalisco state's civil defense agency began working at dawn to clear ice from the streets, said Jalisco Gov. Enrique Alfaro. Photos posted by the agency showed cars nearly fully covered in hail, and The Associated Press reported that hundreds of homes were damaged.

The hail also blocked drainage systems, which led to severe flooding in some parts of the city.

Alfaro said more than 3 feet of hail had fallen, adding that he had never seen anything like it.

He said later Sunday that there were not any reports of injuries or fatalities. He said the Mexican Army and local Guadalajara and Tlaquepaque officials had also responded.

Following the storm, the temperature on Sunday reached a high of 81 degrees in Guadalajara, according to the AP. </s> People in Guadalajara, Mexico, woke up on Sunday to a thick blanket of ice over areas of their city, after a freak hail storm that damaged houses and left cars partially buried.

This is particularly strange because it's the middle of summer. In the past month, temperatures most days have hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit or over.

The Mexican army and local authorities have been deployed to use heavy machinery to dig out the city of nearly 1.5 million people that is the capital of Jalisco state.

"Hail more than a meter high, and then we wonder if climate change exists," Jalisco Gov. Enrique Alfaro Ramírez wrote on Twitter. As of Sunday afternoon, no injuries had been reported, he said, adding that authorities were working to help citizens whose homes were damaged.

"This is a natural phenomenon that we haven't seen before," the governor said in a video posted to Facebook. As he gestured to the blanketed street, he added: "The hail looks like snowfall."

In the Rancho Blanco area of the city, which was particularly hard-hit, some 30 vehicles and 60 homes were damaged, Jalisco Civil Protection officials said on Facebook.

It's worth noting that the actual hailstones that hit Guadalajara were rather small — even smaller than a marble, according to the BBC — which might have limited some of the damage.

Hail forms when "thunderstorm updrafts are strong enough to carry water droplets well above the freezing level," according to NASA. These droplets freeze into hailstones that fall to earth.

A CNN meteorologist said a low pressure zone around the U.S.-Mexico border contributed to storm strengthening in the area. "This was a case where atmospheric and topographic ingredients came into play to cause a freakish hail storm," Michael Guy said.

As crews work to clear away the ice, they may get a hand from the weather. Guadalajara is expected to see significant melting on Monday, with likely thunderstorms and temperatures forecast to reach 81 degrees Fahrenheit. </s> Officials in Mexico's second-largest city say a freak storm that dumped more than a metre of hail on parts of the Guadalajara area damaged hundreds of homes.

Images shared by the western state of Jalisco's civil defence agency show cars buried up to their windows in hail on Sunday. The government brought in heavy machinery to clear streets and dig out businesses. Streets looked like rivers of ice.

The hail clogged drainage systems, leading to intense flooding in places.

The storm also partially buried tractor-trailers and cars, bringing families out on to the streets to play in ice piled high despite the summer heat.

A woman and a child walk on hail in the eastern area of Guadalajara on Sunday. Tractor-trailers were partially buried. (Ulises Ruiz/AFP/Getty Images)

Soldiers and police who took to the streets to help with the cleanup operations slid and slipped knee-deep into the drifts.

Jalisco Gov. Enrique Alfaro said on Twitter that he's never seen anything like it.

Guadalajara, in western Mexico, usually sees average temperatures in June of around 31 C.

Following the early morning storm, the temperature reached a high of about 27 C on Sunday in the city.

Residents of San Miguel de Allende, a high desert community east of Guadalajara that is popular with U.S. tourists, also awoke to several inches of hail covering city streets on Monday.

The local government posted photographs of workers shoveling hail and of buildings damaged by fallen trees. </s> The weather just keeps getting stranger: a record-breaking heat wave scorched Europe in June, and now a freak storm has buried Guadalajara, Mexico in nearly 5 feet of hail.

The central Mexico city is still dealing with damage on Monday after a severe storm dumped hail, burying vehicles, blocking roads, and trapping residents inside their homes on Sunday.

The storm only lasted an hour but 200 homes were damaged and dozens of vehicles were washed away in the city and suburbs, which also got rocked by the storm, BBC News reported.

“We are doing hail removal work and also verifying the buildings that were affected by hail,” the head of the State Unit for Civil Protection and Firefighters of Jalisco said according to local news outlet Vallart Daily.

Mexico’s weather service did issue warning over the weekend that “strong rain” would hit Guadalajara and the state of Jalisco. The state has experienced wild summer weather before — including hail — but the extreme nature of this hailstorm stunned even experts.

Mexican officials had to call in the military to clear roads of the thick ice.

The hailstorm occurred as local temperatures quickly dropped nearly 20 degrees, according to weather.com.

Hailstones grow by colliding with supercooled water drops, NOAA explained. Supercooled water will freeze on contact with ice crystals, frozen raindrops, dust or some other nuclei.

Thunderstorms that have a strong updraft keep lifting the hailstones up to the top of the cloud where they encounter more supercooled water and continue to grow.

The hail falls when the thunderstorm’s updraft can no longer support the weight of the ice or the updraft weakens. The stronger the updraft the larger the hailstone can grow.
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In Mexico, a storm drops over a metre of hail over parts of Guadalajara, damaging hundreds of houses.