In episode 8 of Uptime, we discussed some local U.S. news - the Trump administration is considering extending deadlines for construction to keep wind energy projects eligible for tax incentives. We discussed the 634m tall Tokyo Skytree and how it changes electrical activity in the atmosphere, as well as new technology from Challenergy who is building Typhoon-Proof wind turbines with a unique design. This episode is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's proprietary StrikeTape lightning protection system by visiting http://weatherguardwind.com/striketape

Show Transcript - Uptime Podcast EP8

Welcome back. This is the uptime podcast. I'm your cohost Dan Blewett. Allen. How are you doing today?

Hey Dan, I'm doing well. Boy, it's been crazy up here in Massachusetts. Uh, earlier today we had, it wasn't rain. It wasn't snow. It was like snowing snowballs. I've never seen it before. It was like maybe like a quarter inch wide snowballs.

It wasn't hail, but it's light. Uh, it was just the weirdest thing. We've had the weirdest weather. I don't know if it's part of this Corona virus thing. It's making the atmosphere.

It's like raining coronavirus like snow meatballs or was

like, yeah, it's like raining meatballs, but little white meatballs.

It's kind of what it look like. So we're outside. We're start getting pelted by these snowballs from the sky. And it was the most bizarre. You got? I've seen it a long time. I've been in hailstorms, I've been in big hailstorms, I've been in sleet, you name it. But that was the first time I've been in like a snowball storm.

So these like, they seem like you, you send me a quick clip of it, but it seemed like they were falling faster. I mean, were they icy? Like did you catch any in your hand? Like what, what, what was the consistency here?

They were soft and fluffy, like, like a little meat, like a little soft.

So they're just big.

They're just big snowflakes. Then. Yeah.

Well, no, Nope, Nope. You know what? Snowflake has those crystal line edges, so it has this definitive shape, right? So it looks like it's, it looks like a snowflake, but this has been balled up.

So it looked like,

yeah. Well, it looked like a snowflake that had kind of melt with other snowflakes, but didn't get hard.

Like hail. What are you in a hailstorm like you, Kansas? Those hailstones could be quarter inch, half inch, one inch or larger diameter. Uh, this is even a much smaller and fluffy.

Well. Speaking of hail, when you were living in Wichita, did you ever have your car get just like destroyed by hail is damaged by it?

Well, everybody in your car, right? Just covered in like little dents. I've just like ruined it.

Not little dance. Big dense. They had big Hills. Yeah. Breaking windshield, kind of hailstorms in Kansas. When we knew hailstone for coming, we would everybody scramble and get the heck out of work wherever and get the cars inside.

Uh, I've, I've seen cars nearly destroyed and it's sort of a badge of honor a little bit, so people would keep the car. Sometimes the guys where I used to work used to keep the beat up trucks like that to show all the stores that have been through it. It's crazy how big the hailstones can get there because of the way the thunderstorms are huge and it just recycles the ice up and down, up and down.

It just gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and the storm that eventually falls out of the sky and hits your car.