Five Feet Of Hail Buries Cars And Trucks In Mexico

Enrique Alfaro/Twitter

Residents in the Mexican city of Guadalajara experienced a dramatic weather change this weekend as cars and trucks were left buried under five feet of ice after a storm. 

The south American city had been enjoying warm weather of around 30°C, as is to be expected in the early summer months, so naturally locals were surprised when they woke up to the hail on Sunday morning (June 30).

Many were left trapped inside their homes as the heavy storm brought up to 1.5 metres (five feet) of ice in some areas, swallowing up cars and trucks on the streets.

While severe weather isn’t uncommon, as a result of the city’s elevation of nearly 5,000 feet above sea level, there is reportedly no previous record of anything so heavy. Children were seen playing in the leftover ice.

Enrique Alfaro Ramirez, the governor of Jalisco, said on Twitter the government had been working with the Mexican Army and Guadalajara and Tlaquepaque authorities to clean and remove hail from all public roads in an attempt to contain the damage.

One video shows a truck ploughing through the thick ice, its wheels completely covered:

Authorities also worked to support the citizens whose homes were affected; two people showed ‘early signs of hypothermia’, the state civil protection office said, according to The Guardian.

It’s thought around 200 homes have been damaged and dozens of vehicles have been swept away in the city and surrounding districts.

The governor shared photos of the ice on Twitter, saying he’d never witnessed scenes like it.

He added (translated):

Hail more than a meter high, and then we wonder if climate change exists.

Another Twitter user also blamed the scenes on climate change, writing:

My cousins from Guadalajara sent this today, that’s ICE in JUNE in MEXICO our planet is dying

CNN meteorologist Michael Guy explained the freak weather was the result of low pressure extending south from the US and Mexico border, which had been forecast to contribute to developing storms along the boundary separating different air masses.

He said:

Once these storms developed, all the ingredients came together for there to be this strange hailstorm over Guadalajara.

This was a case where atmospheric and topographic ingredients came into play to cause a freakish hail storm.

Guadalajara, located north of Mexico City, is home to five million residents.

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to [email protected]. 

Emily Brown

Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.