AUTO HAIL REPAIR NEWS

The storm arrived in Hazleton just before 2 p.m., bringing with it heavy rain, hail and wind.

None of the funnel clouds spotted touched down, and at 2:35 p.m., the National Weather Service had canceled a tornado warning it had issued earlier.

In Beaver Meadows, residents reported seeing golf ball-sized hail fall from the sky.

Michael Gulash, an employee of Frame Oil Co., Beaver Meadows, said the hail pounded the borough for well over five minutes.

“I have never seen them that big,” he said of the hailstones.

Gulash was sitting in a truck with a fellow employee as the hail fell.

“You couldn’t talk to each other — it was that loud,” he said. “Then it got to the point that you couldn’t see. It was unbelievable. I hope we never see anything like that again.”

Gulash said some Frame Oil employees were checking their vehicles to determine whether they were dented by the hail.

Area resident Carl Stempert said his truck was dinged in several places by hail when it was parked in McAdoo.

About two hours after the storm had passed, Stempert said that fields in Packer Township took on a winter-like appearance because of the hail accumulation.

“It looks like we had a snowstorm,” he said.

According to weather service meteorologist Dave Martin, a few thunderstorms in the early afternoon traveled east at a rapid rate and hit northern Schuylkill County around 2:30 p.m.

“We had two reports of large hail in two separate storm, one at 2:20 p.m. and one at 2:35 p.m. around McAdoo,” Martin said. “The hail size at a diameter of 1.75 inches was large enough to do significant damage to cars, car windows, gardens and trees.”

Martin said calls were still being made to assess any further storm activity countywide.

A severe thunderstorm warning for the area was later downgraded to a severe thunderstorm watch. There were also no reports of tornadoes in Carbon or Schuylkill counties, where tornado warnings had also been issued.