Golf‑Ball‑Sized Hail Ravages Northern Arizona in a Rare, Wind‑Whipped Storm

Last night, a storm that most Arizonans had never seen before rolled across the high desert, hurling hail the size of golf balls and whipping up wind gusts that felt like a freight train. The National Weather Service scrambled to put out a string of warnings, urging residents to stay away from windows, seek sturdy shelter, and brace for the worst.

Those 2‑ to 3‑inch (about 5‑7.6 cm) hailstones battered rooftops, cracked glass panes and left dents on a parade of parked cars. In some neighborhoods, entire sections of roofs were peeled back, exposing the interiors to a sudden, icy barrage.

What made the event truly odd was the tornado risk. For the first time since October 2010, the Weather Service issued tornado watches for several counties. “This is very unusual for this area at this time of the year,” explained Ryan Bernhart, a meteorologist stationed in Flagstaff. He added that warm, moist air spilling north from the California coast—combined with shifting winds—can spin storms into a brief, violent dance, the kind that occasionally births tornadoes.

Strong, erratic gusts ripped through Flagstaff and Mesa, snapping tree trunks and sending whole ponderosa pines—some over 30 feet tall—toppling onto walls, carports and even a few nearby homes. “These aren’t little saplings,” Bernhart said. “These are solid, mature trees that got knocked down.”

Further south, the biggest worry for the Phoenix metro area was heavy rain. Meteorologist Mark O’Malley warned that flash‑flooding could strike tonight and into Thursday morning, turning even modest downpours into dangerous torrents.

If you’re still out there, the advice is simple: stay indoors, keep windows closed, and avoid low‑lying roads that could turn into rivers in minutes. The storm will move on, but the damage it left behind will be a reminder that Arizona’s weather can be as unpredictable as the desert landscape itself.