#501 – Supercooled
Posted on May 6, 2008 at 12:00 am by Chris
Chapter: Comics
Now that I think about it, it seems strange that I’ve never been caught in a hail storm. I’m always in a building or vehicle. I guess that could be quite a shock depending on the size of the ice. The part that I always found the most entertaining is that the hailstones are usually very hard to see when they are falling. Then they suddenly become very noticeable against the green of the grass as they hit the ground and do a little bounce. It creates a very comical illusion where it appears that little balls of ice are spontaneously hopping out of the ground. Like some sort of giant front yard popcorn maker.
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A front yard popcorn maker would be amazing. It would surely keep the animals out of your garden.
The Duck Has Spoken.
I remember, as a kid, actually TRYING to get outside during hailstorms to enjoy them. I live in California, so hail where I live is almost as rare as snow; we’re lucky to see it once or twice a year. However, I remember one day, it had been cloudy all day and the clouds were just spitting; my friends and I had been outside for an hour and didn’t even have so much as damp hair. Then it just picked up suddenly, and the rapidity of the rain caused it to become hail almost instantly. It hailed for five minutes while we watched out in the open, trying to catch it as it fell, then it stopped. It hailed a couple more times that day, and it never rained until it got too dark for us to play.
Is BIff doing a promo for Talking Rain?
“Let the mineral water sooth your throat as the rasberry dances on your tounge”
A rave review from BIff:”…”
I’ve only been caught in a hail storm once.
I was coming out of a book store, and WHAM! Chicken McNugget sized hail right to the chest.
..I went back inside to read more books.
is this weather week now?
I was caught in a hail storm once. The power went out so we had to relocate from the building we were in, across a field, to another building half a mile away. Oh, and it was in the middle of the night, so it was pitch black.
I didn’t even realize that it was hailing until after the fact. I just thought it was really heavy rain.
I’m not sure if this is the first time, but it is certainly one of the only times we’ve ever seen Biff look Happy! He’s got a visible SMILE on his face there! This is amazing!
Even if it isn’t the first time, it’s certainly an extremely rare occurrence. I can’t remember ever seeing that before!
Good GRIEF…only Biff would think of that…
I live in Australia, and In the 14 years I’ve been here I can only recall it snowing twice. I can recall it hailing at least 3 times a year… or something, probably 12 times what with my memory. There wasn’t even enough to make a snowball… anyway, Biff seems to have a rather sturdy umbrella there. Refreshing yes… but largely because of the circumstances needed to obtain it.
Singapore, closest thing we have here is rain, lots and lots of rain XP
Yum, i would like some raspberry hail tea please ^_^
One day, my friend and I were walking to my house, thunderclouds overhead, and then it started raining. Then, about a hundred meters from my house, it started hailing… not piddly little fun ones like Biff is using, but full on, golf ball and tennis ball sized chunks of ice hurtling down at their terminal velocity. We were lucky that we often wear fairly thick jackets. Also, due to the direction of the wind, it was blowing in at my front door, and had piled up about 20cm (8in) deep against the door. It was easy enough to open, but closing it was difficult, with the wind and hail that’d fallen into the hinges and was jamming the door open. Eventually we closed it, and we were lucky we did. That hailstorm stripped ALL the leaves off the trees, smashed 80% of the windows at one of the schools, and knocked over several evergreens out of my friend’s visual barrier between his house and their neighbour’s.
Maybe sometime in the future, we could see Biff lying on a white field with a shattered glass and rips in his umbrella.
“Biff learns that big hailstones doesn’t mean a better taste”
I’ve mentioned that I grew up in Colorado? Hail storms are common there. Yes, I’ve been caught, and yes,, they hurt.
So what week is this – Weather week?
I’m Canadian, so since birth I’ve known that snow and ice happen in winter. So, when I see hail for the first time ever, and it’s in the middle of the summer, I run screaming into the house for my dad, convinced that this is an event of biblical proportions. Even though I know more now, I still find it kind of disconcerting when it hails in the summer. It just doesn’t seem right, somehow! 🙂
ITTTSSS TOOOO HHOOOTTT TTTOOODDDAAAAYYYYYY!!!
Hail tea, please! ^_^
You have to watch out for the brisk lightning!
Ugh. I hate hail. Back in the DFW area, in Texas, the hail gets OMGbig. To the point where it destroyed the roof of our apartment. If Mom hadn’t poked a hole in the ceiling, it would have collasped from the weight of the rain/hail.
I’ve been caught outside in several hailstorms, but never with the giant-size hailstones thank goodness.
The small ones suck when you’re trying to walk home and they keep pelting you in the face though; they really sting.
Hail storms become infinitely more entertaining when one has a backyard trampoline. You think the things hop on the ground, wait till you see ’em bounce off a trampoline!
Meanwhile, yes, I’ve been caught outside in several hailstorms though luckily not usually the town destroying kind. Still, golf ball sized hailstones to the face, head, and torso do not feel good. Not even a little bit. Good timing for this comic, though. We found out yesterday that the insurance has declared a complete “total” on our roof as a result of the most recent hailstorm in our lives. Too bad we didn’t have brisk hailstone tea to ease the pain.
Someplace in Kansas is a museum
with a replica of a two pound
hailstone that fell thirty years ago…
Seraphie:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0804_030804_largesthailstone.html
This one is in Colorado. Damn… Soccer ball sized x.x
Hail storms are no fun to be caught in. I remember getting caught in one when I was a kid. There I was minding my own business and all of sudden I’m being assaulted by a barrage of ice. No fun at all.
Now that’s making the most of a bad situation! Leave it to Biff to find a practical application for hailstorms.
It’s weather week
This being Biff, I think we can narrow it down to bad weather week. Today, though, Biff is obviously making figurative lemonade with the figurative lemons that life is giving him at terminal velocity.
So, Chris, about this part 2 to the 500th comic celebrations?
The Duck Has Spoken.
I remember one time when I was working, a hailstorm started. The sound of the stones hitting the roof was overpowering. Looking out the window, the hailstones looked like they were the size of marbles. it was AWESOME
i swear that mcdonalds have bought the rights to “hail”
either that or burgers are part of the weather now….cos i was walking home one day and about 5 half eaten double cheeseburgers landed around me….it was REALLY weird…….
@PsychoDuck- He said we would have to wait til Tuesday *night*. So we have to wait a few more agonizing hours 🙁
I wish more people could realize those silly things in life the way you do.
I’ve never really noticed the way that hail bounces on the grass that way.
Thanks for opening my eyes to one of life’s little secrets!
Since February I had to bike to work and I got into more hail storms since then than I care to remember. I like to joke about the free massage, but actually it hurts like hell.
I have never seen hail as far as I remember. I don’t get these comments though! Doesn’t hail hurt?
@Mithras – I don’t see any smile on Biff’s face.
the small hail doesn’t hurt much, it’s just hard rain, and most of it is small. Its the golfball size and up that you need to watch out for, breaks windows and things.
Bwahahahahaaaa….. I THOUGHT OF THIS GAG FIRST!!!
I’m not accusing you of stealing(I used lemonade), but I just want to mention that I posted this comic exactly one year and 4 days beforehand. 🙂
@Garrett – These 2 comics don’t resemble each other in the slightest. For example, your comic doesn’t have an umbrella in it. 🙂
Nobody mentions the fact that it’s a hailstorm in the middle of Summer? O.o
@ Spoot Knight: How strange…
But all I can say for Biff is he’s lucky.
@Spoot Knight & Reg – I thought hailstorms are more common in summer. Too much confusion for one comic. Someone please clear this up!
@Spoot Knight – What time of the year does it hail by you?
I agree with PsychoDuck. What defines “night”?
@no name – I would define it as about an hour ago. 🙂
http://www.thebookofbiff.com/2008/05/06/biff-art-auction/
AGH HOWCOME NO ONE TOLD ME?!
the last time it hailed here it broke the windows of my car it may not of a been a new car but I’ve only owned it for two DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!
well at least i can enjoy the breeze i just hope it doesn’t rain here X(
Whenever I see hail it’s in the coldest parts of Winter.
That reminds me, global warming isn’t working in alaska, it hailed last week, it’s supposed to be raining and muddy
I think you all are getting sleet and hail confused. (Both are bits of ice, caused differently, after all.) Hail generally comes during thunderstorms, in summer weather.. Sleet is winter, sometimes accompanied by freezing rain, etc.
@Elli–Yeah, I know. I live in Texas. It sucks. It wouldn’t if it was raining tea.
me and my friends were caught in a hailstorm once and because my friends are idiots, they decided to pick one up and eat it…
What i like most about this is that there are rolling hills behind him. dont know why but its just something thats sticks out to me
Hail? How can it hail if it’s summer? If Biff lives in some place like alaska, then the last thing he needs is ice in a cold drink…………..OHHHHHH was thing a joke by saying “hail tea” instead of ice tea?
Does hail mean something else in other parts of the country/world?
Hail is a form of precipitation which consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice (hailstones). Hailstones on Earth usually consist mostly of water ice and measure between 5 and 50 millimeters in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorms.[1] Hail is only produced by cumulonimbi (thunderclouds), usually at the front of the storm system, and is composed of transparent ice or alternating layers of transparent and translucent ice at least 1 mm thick
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail
Nope, I’m not getting the two confused, I always see hail in the winter, I know this because I like to go outside when it does…and it doesn’t feel too good either…
Hail happens in the summer, even in the lower 48. Here in Denver, hail is not uncommon during summer storms.
good thing it ain’t sleet, man that stuff is painful.
i had hail down here once, it was the size of beans, it did it for ten minutes, and as quicly as it satrted to hail, the hail stopped, and it rained, so the hail got frozen to stuff.
One time I saw a hail begin about 20 meters away from me. It looked like a wall of heavily falling snow. And then it moved to where I was and kind of interrupted our softball game. Fun times.