Residents in Bolton shocked at sheer size of hailstones

The hail fell earlier this evening, at around 5.30pm, with a blanket of ice covering the ground resembling snow.

The hailstones were larger than usual, with some seemingly around a centimetre wide.

A picture posted in the Bolton news camera club Facebook group by Marta L Artavejas showed her holding three of the hailstones in her palm, showing the ‘shocking’ size of the hail.

One resident, in Little Lever, said: “I was sitting at home and suddenly heard this loud sound outside, like a deep murmur, hitting my window.

“When I looked out, I saw it was hail and was shocked at how big it was.

“It’s been particularly cold lately, but the stones were huge.

“For a minute, I thought my window might break.”

The hail lasted for around 15 minutes, with another resident saying, on social media, that he had been in the bath after a bike ride, and was glad he got home before it started.

He also said he ‘thought the roof was coming in’.

The weather in Bolton has been dropping close to zero most nights this week, with temperatures of 2C this morning at around 2am.

When the hail fell, Bolton was around 5C-6C, according to the Met Office weather map.

This evening and tomorrow morning is expected to stay cold, dropping to 4C from 10pm until around 8am.

More hail could be seen on the northern edges of Bolton later this evening, at around 7.30pm, according to Met Office.

Overnight, several spells of rain are expected, but no more hail is shown on the weather map at the time of writing.