March 19th: Hailstorm, New Forest and Isle of Wight

A cold northerly airstream brought further heavy showers, but in the evening quite a rare and unusual event occurred. A line of heavy hail showers intensified around sunset, eventualy producing large hail of 1-2 inches across on the Isle of Wight just after these shots were taken. The hail was soft and easily crushed. It first appeared as a vivid white shower to my NE:

As it moved past to my east, streaks of hail were clearly visible falling from the storm. The lighting was great, with a yellow cast from the setting Sun behind me:

This was its leading edge, heading towards the island:

The storm structure was amongst the best I've ever seen - it was as dense as a wall and very bright:

The storm was too large to fit in one camera frame, and the anvil was very low and diffuse due to cold air not far above the surface: