Yesterday's hail storm brought huge icy chunks into Queens and Long Island, hitting homes and cars. One reader sent us a photograph of the damage to her car, "Giant hail cracked through car windshields. Here, two holes were left when baseball-sized hail went right through the rear windshield." more ›

If you weren't worried about being clobbered by the massive hail falling in Queens (while Manhattan stays sunny!) this should keep you indoors for a bit longer. Reddit user xixtoo was filming the hail coming down outside his parents' house in Douglaston, Queens when lighting struck the tree in the front yard a few feet away. Naturally, the language is NSFW (can you blame him?) more ›

Last night, hard naturally occurring objects started falling from the atmosphere (sometimes accompanied by thunder), creating a bit of a mess and making New Yorkers wonder if it was thundersleet or thunderhail. It's a meteorological mystery! more ›

While many people were startled by the hail pelting theirs windows last night, Mother Nature left some Brooklyn residents an unwelcome gift in their bathrooms—it seems that hail really knows its way around plumbing! One family wrote to us, "We were alternately thrilled and a little scared by the loud hail storm this evening. Then we heard rushing water from the bathroom... the golf-ball sized ice chunks backed up the storm drain, backed up the tub and toilet and sinks and came rushing into the bathroom. Sooty, dirt-laced water. It just kept coming, and coming. Two inches (?) filled the bathroom, spilled out into the hall, threatened to go further but for every towel in our closet." more ›

Well, that was something else: After a beautiful day, the evening brought a sudden thunderstorm to the NYC area—hail "the size of macadamia nuts" (as one reader who sent a photo put it) bombarded Brooklyn so severely that snow-like mounds formed. There's also flooding, and the Jets-Vikings game, which was supposed to start at 8:30 p.m., was delayed until 9:15 p.m. because of lightning! Check out these videos: more ›

Hail stones "the size of apples" are falling on NYC'S Throgs Neck Bridge, reports Craig Allen, the meteorologist for WCBS 880. There's a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for NYC and the surrounding area through 8 p.m., and parts of Pennsylvania continue to see some some heavy storm activity. The MTA says LIRR service is suspended on the Port Washington Branch because of downed trees and power lines due to "weather-related conditions." According to one member of the AccuWeather forum, the storm blew the tarp off the field at Citizens Bank Stadium where the Phillies play. And this is seriously going to harsh the vibe at tonight's Phish show in Camden! (Phans are advised to consume extra drugs as a precaution.) more ›

The hailstorm that hit Yonkers on Monday definitely left a trail of destruction in Yonkers. Thanks to the 80 MPH winds, a tree fell into Jennifer Crespo's home's chimney, which then crashed into her 7-year-old son's bedroom. Thankfully, little Trent slept in the basement—his parents didn't want to move him since he looked so peaceful; the boy told the Daily News, "I would be dead, and my mommy would be crying a whole lot," while his mom wept, "I'm just so grateful my son wasn't in his bed because it's covered with bricks." And 89-year-old Grace Martini shared a photograph of her basement—filled with three feet of hail! The NY Times spoke to the National Weather Service's Joe Polina, who said El Nino and global warming weren't the culprits, "Normally, we do see thunderstorms, some of which do become severe in spring and summer, but this year, especially with the amount of rain, it’s been a little on the abnormal side." Further, "The culprit is the polar jet stream: a fast-moving air current that controls the movement of fronts and weather systems and is usually north of New York by summer, he said. This year, the jet stream has stayed on a southerly course, causing more storms to develop." more ›

The storm cell that brought hail to Yonkers last night skipped the Bronx only to hit Nassau County. The Weather Service is sending meteorologists out this morning to see if some of the damage was caused by a tornado. more ›

Last night, heavy storms and hail hit Westchester County, downing trees and utility poles and causing power outages to 17,000 customers. The downed power lines also prompted car fires. A Yonkers Fire Department official told 1010WINS, "Possibly a tornado came through the city...the northwest section...it was just devastating...trees and wires down...the amount of hail was unbelievable." (Reports of a tornado are still being confirmed.) WCBS 2 reports, "The dime-sized hail covered the roads in many areas across the city, posing as snow in July... The bizzare weather scene will most certainly cause problems for Wednesday's commute." According to Con Ed, Yonkers and Mount Vernon suffered the most outages while Bronxville, New Rochelle and Eastchester were also affected. Service may not be restored until later this afternoon. According to USA Today, "Hail forms when strong currents of rising air, known as updrafts, carry water droplets high enough in a thunderstorm for the water droplets to freeze... While hailstones are ice, hail is mostly a spring and summer phenomena because the strong thunderstorms needed to produce hail are much more common during warm weather." more ›

You think yesterday's sudden (and relatively brief) downpour was nuts in the city? Well, in Bergen County, NJ, Mother Nature decided to spring three inches of hail onto a number of towns, including Westwood. The Record reported, "Snow plows that had sat idle since March were pressed into service in Emerson, Westwood, Ridgewood and elsewhere to clear penny-sized hail that piled inches high in streets and municipal parking lots." A fire chief also expressed surprise when his sister-in-law called him about her car being stuck, "I’m on the phone and she’s saying that she’s freezing cold, that there’s ice. I’m like, what is she talking about? It’s June. What does she mean there’s Ice?” WABC 7 even has footage of kids making snowmen! It's unclear why so much hail was produced, but National Weather Service meteorologist John Murray suggested "that the storm clouds were relatively high in the sky — 25,000 to 30,000 feet up — exacerbating the instability in the atmosphere." Drier weather is expected today. more ›

New Jersey gets all the fun. Spotters across northern New Jersey reported pea-to-marble-sized hail last night. Marble-sized hail is typically closer in diameter to mib, rather than shooter or Elgin marbles. While New York didn't see any solid precipitation, nearly two inches of the liquid stuff has fallen on Central Park since Monday. More rain is in store today. more ›

Lots of excellent weather action going on today. The source of weather fun is a big old low pressure system moving up the Ohio Valley toward Buffalo. Tentacle-like warm and cold fronts extending from that low will give New York a variety of springtime weather over the weekend. more ›

A listener sent 1010WINS photographs of the hail in her Whitestone, Queens yard. There's a rather adorable gallery of her kids amazed at the hail stones and even posing with buckets of it! Newsday reports the hail was "caused by strong updrafts that suspended raindrops in the chilly upper atmosphere until they froze," according to a meteorologist who also said it was unusual for such large hail. Some neighborhoods all over the NYC-area suffered flooding and downed trees; flights were also delayed at the three airports. more ›

Darn! Gothamist was in Milwaukee this week and missed yesterday's severe weather. Long Island and Connecticut bore the worst of it. Penny-sized hail fell on Centerport while pricier Plainview felt nickel-sized hail. Across Long Island Sound, parts of Bridgeport had quarter-sized hail covering the ground. Waterspouts were seen over the sound and eastern Long Island had wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour. more ›

Mother Nature may throw a little temper tantrum this afternoon, so you may want to take an early lunch or have it delivered. A warm front moving north through the city this morning will bring lots of humid, unstable air to the region. A trough of low pressure is expected to follow around 1 p.m. This disturbance will kick off showers and thunderstorms. The storms may contain strong, damaging winds, large hail, and rain of the intense downpour variety. It would not surprise Gothamist if a severe thunderstorm watch were posted later today. The high today will be a very soggy 80 degrees. An approaching cold front tonight will extend the chance of showers and thunderstorms until well after midnight. more ›

December is off to a chilly start. Every day so far this month has been cooler than normal. Yesterday's 14 degrees below normal was the nadir of this current cold spell. Today will be slightly warmer and tomorrow will be slightly more warmer yet again. The minor warming may be accompanied by a bit of light rain as an upper level disturbance runs through the region this afternoon. As it cools tonight the rain may... more ›

If you're a woman and are heading to exclusive Chrystie Street club The Box, be very careful! According to WNBC, the NYPD is saying there were two rape-and-kidnapping incidents that originated outside the venue. more ›

Later on we'll be posting our CMJ Awards (we're thinking of giving Kanye one, since he never wins anything)...but for now we wanted to take a look back at the four long days of shows we held at Gothamist House. more ›

Not making their way to the greenmarket this week are domestic matsutake, one of the most prized mushrooms in the world. Matsutake have a slight pine flavor and give off a wild, funky cinnamon aroma when cooked. This fragrance is said to do things to people, like instantly transport them to Xanadu or make choruses of ladybugs hail from the sky in intense, Busby Berkeley style formations. Hand foraged and scarce, matsutake are in fact like truffles, with whom they share a peak season and some frequent flyer miles: Just as a good number of Italian truffles are gussied up and shipped off the New York market each fall, most Pacific Northwest matsutake are flown overnight to Japan after collection, where the best ones are so expensive it’s not even funny. For the time being, and at least on the East Coast, matsutake are most likely to be found in restaurants. more ›

Got a tidbit for us? Send it to the feedbag. more ›

A 19-year-old man was killed early this morning while returning home from a family picnic with friends. WCBS reports that two groups of men began fighting on the 5 train between 233rd St. and 180th St. and Dyre Ave. in the Bronx, when one of the combatants pulled a gun and started shooting. An initial account from a witness told WCBS that someone simply walked onto the 5 train and shot Rayquan Story in the head, but followup interviews indicate that Story and his friends argued with another group at the picnic and were followed onto the subway. more ›

Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 4pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4pm.

French megachef Daniel Boulud has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit that alleges he discriminated against nonwhite employees at his restaurant Daniel, according to an article in today's Times. more ›

The 2007 FISA Rowing Tour USA makes a stop in New York City today by rowing around the isle of Manhattan. The last leg of the week-long rowing tour is a "Row Around New York" where participants will row 30 miles around the island. The boats began at 6 am today at Pier 40 (Houston St. and the Hudson River) and should finish there at around 5 pm. Participating rowers, there are 70 of them, hail from 17 different countries with ano additional 50 rowers from the New York area. more ›

As tankengine's picture above attests, today's air quality is not so good. Heat, humidity, stagnant air and lots of sun have combined to raise our ozone and particulate counts high enough to warrant an Air Quality Alert. The hot and humid air are going to fall just shy of the mark needed to declare a heat advisory, but it will still be plenty miserable outside. Gothamist mentioned tips to beat the heat yesterday. more ›

It's a gunk alert day! Add warm air, high humidity, plenty of sun and not much wind and you get an air stagnation advisory. The advisory is in effect from ten this morning to eleven tonight as we'll be dealing with elevated ozone amounts in the city and surrounding counties. To reduce adverse health effects the state Department of Environmental Conservation recommends avoiding strenuous activity while outdoors. more ›

Perhaps New York University finally felt that it owned enough New York real estate, because now it's thinking about buying up parts of Paris, France. The American University of Paris is building new facilities on an island in the Seine in a partnership with NYU, and hopes to one day become absorbed into the New York school's system. 90% of the Paris school's students hail from outside of France and the American University of Paris has a year-old reciprocity agreement with NYU that allow enrollees to earn degrees from either school. more ›