It most certaintly did occur;

40 degree F diff from the outside of where the storms path was.

And Hail is very common in the tropics, not that this was hail though.

[link to img.photobucket.com]

[link to img.photobucket.com]

Rapidfire caught the action as always.

[link to rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov]

OMG check this out!

This is a slice of the storm I croped from RapidFire
[link to img.photobucket.com]

[link to rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov]

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More on Somalia

Posted on Wednesday 1st June at 12:46:06
Snowfall In Somalia Reported
The first snowfall on this part of the world has claimed one life and caused extensive damage to properties. Puntland, northeastern part of Somalia has never recorded snowfall before last night when snow storms with high winds destroyed homes in Rako town.

The storm left a blanket of snow on the ground, something residents had never seen in their lives before. Aside from this unexplained snowfall on this tropical land, Somalia has experienced very strange weather in the past few months.

Floods killed people and forced rivers to overflow banks in almost all parts of the country. Many cities from Hargeisa in the north to Baladweyn in central were affected badly by heavy rains and floods. Many people were killed and thousands of livestock washed away by this strange weather. The country is still struggling to recover from last month’s killer weather.

With no effective central government, Somalia doesn’t have weather prediction or climate monitoring systems in place. Somalis think this unusual weather and last night’s previously unheard of snowfall are part of the global warming phenomena.

Source: Somalinet.com

Posted on Wednesday 1st June at 12:45:14
Floods Disrupt Relief Efforts In Somali Region
ADDIS ABABA, 1 June (IRIN) - Floods have disrupted relief efforts in Ethiopia´s southeastern Somali Region making travel impossible in some areas, a UN agency said on Wednesday.

Trucks laden with relief items had been stuck on impassable roads for nearly three weeks, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

"Efforts by the government, UN and relief agencies are being hampered by poor road conditions, making travel impossible in some areas," Paul Herbert, OCHA´s head in Ethiopia, told IRIN.

New flooding was causing new displacements in an area stretching from Kelafo to Mustahil town, where original floodwaters had receded and people were returning to their homes.

A joint government and UN assessment team arrived in the region on 25 May to assess the scale of the floods and to recommend an appropriate emergency response.

The number affected remains unclear, with conflicting reports of the number of people in need; estimates range from 25,000 to more than 60,000. As many as 154 people are thought to have died in the floods.

The team was expected to re-examine the damage and needs of flood-affected areas in Gode, Jijiga, Kebridehar and Degehabur zones.

Flooding first hit the remote region in late April when Ethiopia´s largest river, the Wabe Shebelle, burst its banks. According to OCHA, recent flooding was also reported in the Denan area of Gode zone, while heavy rains had also hit parts of Fik zone.

OCHA added that the Genale and Dawa rivers in the western parts of Somali Region had overflowed their banks, interrupting communications within large parts of Afder and Liben zones.

The agency said road inaccessibility had prevented food aid from reaching many of the flood-affected areas. In addition, floods had hampered efforts by UN Children´s Fund (UNICEF) to deliver relief to Gode.



UNICEF, in conjunction with the government´s Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC), sent 17 lorries with relief items for flood-affected populations, but seven of the trucks remained stuck on the roads by 29 June.

Until the access problems eased, OCHA said the World Food Programme (WFP) was making arrangements to provide funds, through the DPPC, to transport 870 mt of maize currently in stock in Gode.

The Somali region regularly suffers from severe droughts, with average rainfall of just over 250 mm a year. Flooding usually occurs at this time of the year, and the water is used to regenerate soil for pasture. In 2003, 119 people died in the last major floods in Ethiopia.