My rainfall data for last night's storm had obviously under-recorded the
true amount by a wide margin due to the gauges being blocked my hail.
According to David Braine on Spotlight around 100 mm fell in one hour and on
top of that there was between 15 cm and 30 cm depth of hail.

Hard to describe how much hail actually fell but imagine a hail storm which
covers the ground in around 1 or 2 minutes then let this intensity continue
for nearly two hours, with torrential rain mixed in. The sound it made was
like a continuous loud roar, coupled with dazzling, frequent lightning and
deafening thunder, something that I won't forget in a hurry.

The effect the rain and hail had on soil temperatures, especially the 100 cm
depth temperature is quite remarkable and larger than anything I have
recorded before. At this depth the temperature normally varies by only a few
tenths of a degree over a week but here are readings for the last 5 days.

Date 30cm 100cm
26 11.4 11.8
27 10.1 11.7
28 8.2 11.5
29 7.0 11.3
30 5.9 7.6
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk