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Ikea parking covered in hail

Third update 25 July 10:10 Aubonne, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -Romandie News and NZZ (Ger) both report significant damage done to a swath of western Switzerland as storms blew in from the west Thursday 23 July. Thundering noise at the Ikea store at Aubonne at just after 15:00 23 July sent crowds rushing to the front door to watch golf ball-sized hail for three minutes. (Ed. note: MeteoSwiss has published a series of maps and explanations of the event, texts in French, that show the centre of the storm in the Aubonne-Etoy area at 15:15)

Considerable damage was done to some car rooftops and exposed surfaces. The Tribune de Geneve reported Friday afternoon that some CHF20 million in damage, primarily to crops, is expected to be reported to Suisse Grêle, the main Swiss hail insurance company.

Meteoswiss forecasts more thunderstorms and temperatures between 18 and 27C for most of the area Friday, but warm, sunny, drier and less capricious weather is slated for the weekend.

Video, driving to Geneva (Sam’ Place) with ice balls on the road 23 July.

Bigger than a typical golf ball!

Hail: the whiskey glass is missing...