Virginians, Carolinians Asking 'What the Hail?'

A resident of Franklin County, Va., digs his car out of the hail that accumulated on his driveway. ("Wild About Weather" Facebook group)

By Bill Deger, Meteorologist

Mar 25, 2012; 7:36 AM ET

Despite temperatures in the 60s and 70s, it looked like the middle of winter in parts of the Southeast on Saturday.
No, it wasn't snow--but hail that covered the ground up to 6 inches deep in some communities on Saturday from southwestern Virginia into South Carolina.
Responsible for the chaos were severe thunderstorms in association with a large storm system packed with plenty of cold air in the upper levels of the atmosphere.
That cold air helped to generate hail, and plenty of it, in most of the thunderstorms that formed during the afternoon and evening hours.
The Storm Prediction Center compiled 80 reports of hail from Saturday ranging from an inch (quarter size) to two and three-quarters of an inch in diameter (baseball size).
Thunderstorms produced hail across a half dozen states, from West Virginia to Georgia.
The most prolific hailmakers struck around dinnertime from Lynchburg, Va., to the Triad region of North Carolina.
A few of the responsible storms were even spinning according to radar, but fortunately there were no reports of tornadoes. However, the hail alone did a lot of damage.

Severe weather reports from Saturday. Hail reports are represented by green dots, while strong winds and wind damage are represented by blue dots. (SPC/NOAA)
Windshields were busted out by golf ball-sized hail near Mount Herman, N.C. Near Salemburg, N.C., quarter-sized hail fell fast and furious for about seven minutes, pelting and denting everything in sight.
Since many of the thunderstorms were slow moving, the hailstones piled up fast, several inches deep in some areas. As they melted, runoff quickly flooded drainage areas and roadways.
While the accumulated hail is now long gone, the photos and videos posted to social media will continue to impress for a long time to come.
Here is a look at some of the photos and videos from Saturday's storms:

Hail accumulated 6 inches deep on this back porch in Smith Mountain Lake, Va. (Michelle Dix Corvin/WSLS-TV)

Hail covering the deck of a resident of Davidson County, N.C. (Twitter user @nccoyne)

Hail damage to a car near Lynchburg, Va. ("5 State Weather" Facebook group)

Virginians, Carolinians Asking 'What the Hail?'