Rain, sun, hail, wind all in one day

Yesterday was forecast to be partly sunny after the morning rain left.  The rain was expected to be mostly gone from our area by 10:00 a.m., and the afternoon promised to be very windy.  I thought the wind would be great for drying laundry even if I got it out a little later than usual.
I like to recall a children's poem about a windy wash day.  I especially like the last part, "And every little pair of pants upside down and skipping."

Windy Wash Day

by Dorothy Aldis

 

The wash is hanging on the line
And the wind's blowing--
Dresses all so clean and fine,
Beckoning
And bowing.

Stockings twisting in a dance,
Pajamas very tripping,
And every little pair of pants
Upside down
And skipping.

 

So out went the first load of laundry about 11 a.m.  Then a rogue band of rain swept across the area.  The heaviest cell was right over us, and we even got some pellets of pea-sized hail.

Here is some of the hail that blew onto the front porch.

 

Finally, the sun came out; and, as predicted, the wind was strong.  The clothes were practically dry by the time I got them off the line.  I noticed the top of a dead pine swaying mightily in my neighbor's backyard.  By the evening, the top had been blown down.

The tumultuous weather was the result of a front moving in and bringing an end to the unseasonably mild weather.  Now we're back to more typical late-January weather, which is to say cool, but still nice enough to be out pulling up some honeysuckle and poison ivy vines.