Mysterious chunks of ice fall from sky onto Colton house – Megacryometeor?

She thought a tree fell on her house in Colton, California.

But when she went outside, she found about 10 large chunks of ice that apparently fell from the clear blue sky on March 21, 2016.

Colton resident Megan Clement was in her townhouse doing some cleaning when she heard the loud bangs. She thought a tree might have fallen on the home.

Then she went outside and found instead of an uprooted tree, eight to 10 large chunks of ice on the roof, covering the walkway and in the bushes.

The unusual incident occurred at about 10 a.m. Monday under a blue and clear sky without threats of hail or other strange weather phenomena.

What about a megacryometeor?

A megacryometeor is a very large chunk of ice which, despite sharing many textural, hydro-chemical and isotopic features detected in large hailstones, is formed under unusual atmospheric conditions which clearly differ from those of the cumulonimbus cloud scenario (i.e. clear-sky conditions).

Their process of formation is not completely understood, mainly with respect to the atmospheric dynamics necessary to produce them. Scientific studies show that their composition matches normal tropospheric rainwater for the areas in which they fall. In addition, megacryometeors display textural variations of the ice and hydro-chemical and isotopic heterogeneity, which evidence a complex formation process in the atmosphere. It is known that they do not form from airplane toilet leakage because the large chunks of ice that occasionally do fall from airliners are distinctly blue due to the disinfectant used.

There were two megacryometeor events reported last year in the US. 

Meanwhile, our Coston resident has put the ice chunks in her freezer, for a space drink on Easter. And the mystery continues.

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