Hail Storm!
Last night we had a severe thunderstorm pass through the area. It included a short period of hail. Local weather watchers reported nickel to quarter sized hail stones and the National Weather Service released this picture of a hail stone from the same storm:
As you can see in the video, it did not dissuade the loon from its nesting duties. Good thing! You can imagine what a 1 inch hail stone could do to an egg. And thank goodness the stone in the picture didn’t hit the nest.
Other than flooding, nesting loons can handle just about any weather event we are apt to see in New Hampshire. One notable exception occurred on July 24, 2008, when a tornado went directly over a loon nest on Merrymeeting Lake and uprooted a tree adjacent to the nest.
