What's that ice falling from the sky?

I was scrambling for a blog, but Universal Desk Editor Kelly Lipp shrugged it off as a generational “thing” -- and, by the way, why not just post the immediate conversation?

Fine, she had me. We were discussing weather, coverage of weather, and how we were going to get the upcoming special section for hurricane season produced. Yawn? Probably not, with the hurricane season officially staring at us in two weeks.

We had hail for a few minutes yesterday afternoon, and Manatee natives wondered what in the heck that ice was falling out of their sky. For those of us who have spent time in Texas, we recall without fondness scrambling to get our cars under shelter too many days during spring hailstorms.

Here’s hoping predictions are only fodder to get us prepared. We needed the rain; but hurricane, hurricane go away. Later today, we'll post breaking news on The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's outlook for the 2009 season. Stay tuned.

-- Joan