A First for Southern Californian

When a storm passed through Southern California March 2, 2015, bringing snow to the mountains and "snow" to the beaches, some recognized the white accumulation was really hail while others believed it was snow, having never seen snow before. Dave Shenkman, owner of Kite Connection on the Huntington Beach Pier (and host of the annual Kite Party festival,) captured pictures and a video of the scene as it was happening.

"I've never seen anything like this in 48 years of living here," said Shenkman. "You could see the storm coming from the West and when the hail started falling, people headed for shelter. I grabbed my camera and started filming it falling and sticking to the pier and beach."

Brian Cizek, manager of Surf City Store on Huntington Beach Pier: "It was absolutely awesome. It was beads of hail, not flakes of snow, but it covered the pier and beach. In the parking lots, the hail was on either side of the cars just like when you're in the mountains. Kids were throwing hail balls, and building snowmen."

John Trader was out surfing when the huge storm, full of lightning, came towards him. "Lifeguards in trucks were telling us over loudspeakers to hurry up and get out of the the water. It looked like a giant waterspout heading for the pier."

Frank Buckner used his surfboard to slide down the hail covered grassy knolls north of the pier, off Pacific Coast Highway. "I've never had a ride like that. It was such a thrill."

The hail storm lasted about an hour and created a media frenzy;  KTLA called it "Breaking News." The story appeared on TV news and newspapers throughout the nation. It was a media sensation.