Don't Like the Weather? Just Wait...

It's a strange climate zone around Woodstock, New York. Neighboring Kingston sits solidly on the banks of the Hudson River - it's part of the Hudson River Valley. To the west, Phoenicia is most definitely in the Catskill Mountains. Woodstock's in the middle - nestled on the foot of the mountains, a bit above the river valley. And that means we see some pretty weird weather.

I was out in the country with clients last week, looking at homes they hoped might be their new weekend getaway. It was a lovely, warm, autumn day in the Catskills. And then it wasn't.

The clouds grew dark and heavy, rain started to fall, then, as we turned onto a country lane, the skies dropped buckets of hail in an unrelenting torrent.

Watershed Post hail video

We were just a mile from the house we were going to see; I decided to keep going. Behind me, the van carrying three teenagers and their parents was bedlam: Dad opened all the windows and let the hail pour in as the kids tried to yell above his laughter. A disheveled, laughing family fell out of the van when they stopped behind my car and I struggled to get the door open.

"Please, please, please let us in before it starts again," I muttered.

And then the sun came out.