On 10 December 2014 the Bureau warned of very dangerous thunderstorms near Yengo National Park and the Putty and Howes Valley district, heading north east toward Wollombi and the Watagans. The storms delivered. A chase that left Bidwill at 3:05 pm turned into a sprint up the Putty Road, and the hailstones waiting there were giants — one measured 10 cm across, with others around 8 cm beside it. The stones were scattered among smaller ones, and stripped leaves and leaf litter littered the ground afterwards, the signature of a severe hail event. The supercell that dropped them stuck around for another forty minutes or so, showing clean striated structure and a barrel shaped updraft with a green tinge in the vault as it weakened near Singleton. A second storm, probably a supercell, followed the first. Measuring hail properly matters — calipers, point to point on the longest length — because sizes get exaggerated in the retelling, and 10 cm speaks for itself.
