PHOENIX — Monday marked 10 years since a scary storm brought horrible hail to the Valley and torrential twisters to the high country.
The storm disrupted a quiet afternoon that caused drivers to come to a screeching halt on the freeway.
Matthew Hirsch, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, says he will never forget it.
“I had never seen anything like that, and it was a little surprising to see it here in Phoenix,” says Hirsch.
The hail ranged from the size of tennis balls to even bigger than a baseball. It left cars looking like they were vandalized.
“There was a really low pressure that moved into southern California. That leftover system tapped into leftover monsoon moisture,” says Hirsch.
That system caused thunderstorms, which then resulted in tornadoes across northern Arizona.
All that damage caused insurance premiums to skyrocket across the state.
“This was such an unexpected event with so much financial impact, they were totaling cars because it was too expensive to fix them,” says Brooklyn Reyes, the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at AALL Insurance.
Now, 10 years later, it’s unlikely we will see the likes of a storm like this anytime soon.
“They only occur every 20 to 30 years,” says Hirsch.
