Here's a mystery weather photo. I'm not even 100 percent sure what I'm looking at here. On the back, there is a maddeningly incomplete caption, written in pencil...
Hail Storm out of
Out of where?
Somewhere in Maryland, almost certainly. There was a historic and well-documented hail storm across that state on June 22, 1915. Here are a couple tidbits:
- A September 1915 article by Professor of Meteorology Oliver L. Fassig, titled "A Remarkable Fall of Hail in Maryland." Excerpt: "The hailstones were of a size never before seen in this vicinity. The large ones were generally referred to as being the size of a baseball or an orange."
- Report on County Resources, Volume 7, published in 1917 by the Maryland. Dept. of Geology, Mines, and Water Resources. Excerpt: "A severe hail-storm passed over Maryland on the afternoon of June 22, 1915. It was first observed in Carroll County, at about 1:30 p.m., and moved in a southeast direction across Carroll, Baltimore, and Anne Arundel counties, cross the Bay to Talbot County, and then over Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester counties, and out over the Atlantic Ocean. While the damage done to crops was not greater than that on some previous occasions recorded in the local history of hail-storms, the size of the hailstones was phenomenal. ... The storm seems to have attained its maximum intensity between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m., as it passed over the City of Annapolis."
This photo, while documenting part of the hail storm, clearly does not show any of the larger stones or worst damage from the day.
Related post: Old photo stirs up a blizzard of mystery
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