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Well, this doesn't happen every day...

By tsmith on July 27, 2007.

Just a quick post from the "weird happenings in Iowa" file: Mysterious chunks of ice pelt Iowa town.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) -- Large chunks of ice, one of them reportedly about 50 pounds, fell from the sky in this northeast Iowa city, smashing through a woman's roof and tearing through nearby trees.

Authorities were unsure of the ice's origin but have theorized the chunks either fell from an airplane or naturally accumulated high in the atmosphere -- both rare occurrences.

"It sounded like a bomb!" 78-year-old Jan Kenkel said. She said she was standing in her kitchen when an ice chunk crashed through her roof at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday. "I jumped about a foot!"

The CNN story has pictures of the hole left in her roof. Bizarre.

Elizabeth Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said investigators would contact Kenkel to try to determine the source of the ice.

"It is very uncommon for something like this to come from an aircraft," Cory said. "That is really unusual if it is pure white ice, especially at this time of year."

The moisture involved in such a scenario could have come from the tops of strong thunderstorms. However, Dubuque had clear skies at the time the ice fell, said Andy Ervin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. "There was nothing unusual going on," he said.

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Iowa/area news
Misc.

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Well duh; Dubuque is being smited from the sky god on behalf of the Chicago policeman going to prison for successfully defending himself in a fist fight with two Dubuque galoots.


John Kass, Chicago Tribune, July 15, 2007

In an Iowa criminal case that smells of a thousand hogs, a young Chicago police officer was sentenced last week to 5 years in prison for defending himself against an attack by two large, drunken men, even though he testified that he repeatedly tried avoiding a fight.

http://tinyurl.com/233qjh

By Matt Platte (not verified) on 27 Jul 2007 #permalink

Large chunks of ice, one of them reportedly about 50 pounds, fell from the sky

Tara, I strongly recommend some deep diving into the works of Charles Fort. Although nobody can answer the question "Charles Fort, clown or scientist?" you might collect more wisdom reading his books during say one week than university can provide in a decade.

It's all relative my dear. If you're clever enough you can explain anything anyway you want. If you're dumb enough, you can believe anything anybody tells. If you're shrewd enough, you can do both.

JS

Tara, I strongly recommend some deep diving into the works of Charles Fort. Although nobody can answer the question "Charles Fort, clown or scientist?" you might collect more wisdom reading his books during say one week than university can provide in a decade.