Wednesday 27 September 2017

Another Ice Bomb

There has been yet another incident in which a large mass of ice falls from the sky with no obvious cause. In this case it landed in Busby in eastern Renfrewshire, Scotland. It struck the ground with such force that it created an impact crater, indicating that it was at or near terminal velocity; meaning that it fell from some considerable height. This happened in the garden of Lyndsey Helliwell. It has damaged her lawn, but she has spare turf that can repair it. She is just relieved that it didn't hit the house, or her dog or children, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-41403130/huge-ice-block-falls-from-sky-into-family-s-garden. Did anybody retrieve a sample of the ice and put it somewhere cold where it can be preserved before it melted? The idea that it fell from an aeroplane is an assumption; it is not a known fact. Ice bombs can fall from aircraft, caused by frozen rainwater or leaks in their plumbing, but they can usually be identified as such. Many ice bombs are very mysterious with unusual layers in them and it is not known how they formed. They do not appear to be freak giant hailstones. This programme is a good introduction to the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLGp6Z_WsD0.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Corr ben her lorns in a rite two n ate mate. You reckon it may of come from an airplane like the time not to long ago when a huge blok of ice full of turkish delite landed on some poor blokes head. Blimey talk about bad luck.anyway cheers pal. Baz

Ben Emlyn-Jones said...

Hi Baz. Keep your hardhat on when you go out! Ice bombs everywhere!