It’s always better to wait a day or two for ‘quantification’ – for more sombre reflection, if needed, taking emotion out of the equation – but the hail didn’t look (or sound!) good in Beaune today.

I left Switzerland at 7am, and all the way to the French border, on the other side of the Jura, it was stormy with significant rain and occasion (tiny) hailstones. So it was a surprise to arrive in Beaune to 28°C and blue skies in the middle of the morning – the forecast isn’t great for the Côte d’Or this week, but all looked fine. Over lunch the sky darkened and we had some heavy rain. At 2pm it turned to hail – about 1cm sized projectiles – at least in the centre of Beaune – and that lasted for close to 5 minutes. It’s hard to believe that there won’t be damage, it’s only a question of the ‘spread.’ The storm rumbles away for 3 hours before the sun returns, but only with modest rain as accompaniment. Judging by the weather forecast the next days will also not be easy.

Today, at best, all the hail cannons managed, was to soften the blows to my roof!