Raining Mud Balls! The story that I am about to tell is true, not a little bit, not roundabout, or ought-to-be, but the unvarnished, bark-off truth. Now, as always, you have the right...

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a little bit, not roundabout, or ought-to-be, but the unvarnished, bark-off truth. Now, as always, you have the right, at your own discretion to believe it, or not.

My wife and I were living in Olton, Texas and both were teaching school for this year, which I think was 1960. Our car had about seen its last gasp and we had to make a trade in order to have reliable transportation. I had gone back home and picked up a 1960 Pontiac station wagon. Now the distance one way is perhaps 250 to 300 miles, which in Texas is a little further than ‘down yonder’ or such.
Once one leaves Wichita Falls going west, you are in true West Texas. While there are still towns every once in a while, they are inhabited by strong individuals, people who are sort of like mesquite trees; strong, sorta like whet leather as independent as a ‘hog on ice’! And the reason is they have to be, or they can’t stay.

I don’t remember the time of day, but it was sometime around 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. and I could see in the far west what began to look like a sandstorm coming. It wasn’t a welcome sight and alone it would be challenging enough, but to the South and maybe South East was also a thunderhead that promised to deliver some wind and rain, and perhaps a little hail. I suppose I was driving above the speed limit around 70 MPH, but there was no way to escape what looked like a collision of these two weather systems.

Sure enough, somewhere between Chillicothe and Matador, they collided. First came the blowing sand storm that cut the visibility to maybe 20 or 30 yards, forcing me to slow down simply because I could not see any further ahead. In another 10 minutes or so the thunderhead challenged the sandstorm with a shower. Now, this was the exciting part, there were no pure raindrops falling, but mud balls! The rain was mixing with the sand storm far above and what was falling all around was a shower of mud balls. It was all I could do to see the road even before the rain started, and now my windshield wipers being assisted by water I was using to
help from the window washers weren’t keeping up. I had a liberal layer of mud all over the windshield and I had to slow down to a snail’s pace, even though I wanted to get on through this devil’s car wash.

I suppose this went for several miles before I got past the majority of the sandstorm and could get a reasonably clear windshield so that I could see clearly. I had heard about showers of mud balls before, but this was my first mud baptism! Well, now you folks who are not from Texas, you would think folks were crazy to love this country, but natives would disagree. Why I don’t really know, but I’ll bet there are some good ole boys, who at the local watering hole the next day, sipping a cup of coffee and bragging, like “Well, I got 2 inches of mud in my rain gauge yesterday!” Just Sayin…RJS

bknecht Loc: Northeast pa

Wow RJS, that must have been quite a spectacle!

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

Robert J Samples wrote:

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a little bit, not roundabout, or ought-to-be, but the unvarnished, bark-off truth. Now, as always, you have the right, at your own discretion to believe it, or not.

My wife and I were living in Olton, Texas and both were teaching school for this year, which I think was 1960. Our car had about seen its last gasp and we had to make a trade in order to have reliable transportation. I had gone back home and picked up a 1960 Pontiac station wagon. Now the distance one way is perhaps 250 to 300 miles, which in Texas is a little further than ‘down yonder’ or such.
Once one leaves Wichita Falls going west, you are in true West Texas. While there are still towns every once in a while, they are inhabited by strong individuals, people who are sort of like mesquite trees; strong, sorta like whet leather as independent as a ‘hog on ice’! And the reason is they have to be, or they can’t stay.

I don’t remember the time of day, but it was sometime around 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. and I could see in the far west what began to look like a sandstorm coming. It wasn’t a welcome sight and alone it would be challenging enough, but to the South and maybe South East was also a thunderhead that promised to deliver some wind and rain, and perhaps a little hail. I suppose I was driving above the speed limit around 70 MPH, but there was no way to escape what looked like a collision of these two weather systems.

Sure enough, somewhere between Chillicothe and Matador, they collided. First came the blowing sand storm that cut the visibility to maybe 20 or 30 yards, forcing me to slow down simply because I could not see any further ahead. In another 10 minutes or so the thunderhead challenged the sandstorm with a shower. Now, this was the exciting part, there were no pure raindrops falling, but mud balls! The rain was mixing with the sand storm far above and what was falling all around was a shower of mud balls. It was all I could do to see the road even before the rain started, and now my windshield wipers being assisted by water I was using to
help from the window washers weren’t keeping up. I had a liberal layer of mud all over the windshield and I had to slow down to a snail’s pace, even though I wanted to get on through this devil’s car wash.

I suppose this went for several miles before I got past the majority of the sandstorm and could get a reasonably clear windshield so that I could see clearly. I had heard about showers of mud balls before, but this was my first mud baptism! Well, now you folks who are not from Texas, you would think folks were crazy to love this country, but natives would disagree. Why I don’t really know, but I’ll bet there are some good ole boys, who at the local watering hole the next day, sipping a cup of coffee and bragging, like “Well, I got 2 inches of mud in my rain gauge yesterday!” Just Sayin…RJS

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a l... (show quote)

I can just see that happening RJ, brief moments of splatter on my own windshield over the years makes one wonder and say WTF is that coming from.

Your story reminds me of the time I drove through what was down graded from a hurricane eye wall to a tropical storm well inland from its port of entry.

I saw the thickening clouds and rain squalls headed in my direction and proceeded through at a much lower speed as you did. Within minutes I was what i thought on the back side of the storm. Picked up speed because it was Clear and sunny and just wet payment for the rest of the trip.

Within a few miles here comes another storm I thought. But as i look to the west, the east and my rear view mirror, I was smack dab in the middle of what the forecasters said was coming up the coast.

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

That is a vivid recollection..and I can just imagine what you experienced!

I've only been caught in a Western storm like that one time...with only wind and rain...but I remember it like yesterday. Being a Michigan boy, and unfamiliar with such an event, I just pulled over and stopped. Lucky I did too...because on the rural road I was traveling the bridge had washed out several miles ahead and I just might have driven right into the mess of it all!

CamT Loc: La Porte, Texas

A different type of storm.... my wife and I were driving in New Mexico when we came upon a big thunderhead that was pouring rain but it never reached the ground. One ment we had a slight sprinkle hit the windshield but that was all. We were stopped at a restaurant later and I was telling a man about it and he said it happens in the desert 🏜 because of it being so hot and dry. There is a name for it but I can't remember what he told me it was. Really weird to see 👀 it raining 🌧 so hard and never get wet

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

CamT wrote:

A different type of storm.... my wife and I were d... (show quote)

It's called Virga, Cam.

Gordon Loc: Charleston South Carolina

Robert J Samples wrote:

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a little bit, not roundabout, or ought-to-be, but the unvarnished, bark-off truth. Now, as always, you have the right, at your own discretion to believe it, or not.

My wife and I were living in Olton, Texas and both were teaching school for this year, which I think was 1960. Our car had about seen its last gasp and we had to make a trade in order to have reliable transportation. I had gone back home and picked up a 1960 Pontiac station wagon. Now the distance one way is perhaps 250 to 300 miles, which in Texas is a little further than ‘down yonder’ or such.
Once one leaves Wichita Falls going west, you are in true West Texas. While there are still towns every once in a while, they are inhabited by strong individuals, people who are sort of like mesquite trees; strong, sorta like whet leather as independent as a ‘hog on ice’! And the reason is they have to be, or they can’t stay.

I don’t remember the time of day, but it was sometime around 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. and I could see in the far west what began to look like a sandstorm coming. It wasn’t a welcome sight and alone it would be challenging enough, but to the South and maybe South East was also a thunderhead that promised to deliver some wind and rain, and perhaps a little hail. I suppose I was driving above the speed limit around 70 MPH, but there was no way to escape what looked like a collision of these two weather systems.

Sure enough, somewhere between Chillicothe and Matador, they collided. First came the blowing sand storm that cut the visibility to maybe 20 or 30 yards, forcing me to slow down simply because I could not see any further ahead. In another 10 minutes or so the thunderhead challenged the sandstorm with a shower. Now, this was the exciting part, there were no pure raindrops falling, but mud balls! The rain was mixing with the sand storm far above and what was falling all around was a shower of mud balls. It was all I could do to see the road even before the rain started, and now my windshield wipers being assisted by water I was using to
help from the window washers weren’t keeping up. I had a liberal layer of mud all over the windshield and I had to slow down to a snail’s pace, even though I wanted to get on through this devil’s car wash.

I suppose this went for several miles before I got past the majority of the sandstorm and could get a reasonably clear windshield so that I could see clearly. I had heard about showers of mud balls before, but this was my first mud baptism! Well, now you folks who are not from Texas, you would think folks were crazy to love this country, but natives would disagree. Why I don’t really know, but I’ll bet there are some good ole boys, who at the local watering hole the next day, sipping a cup of coffee and bragging, like “Well, I got 2 inches of mud in my rain gauge yesterday!” Just Sayin…RJS

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a l... (show quote)

Good story Robert. Never heard of it but learned a lot from this post. Never heard of Virga before either.

CamT Loc: La Porte, Texas

plumbob wrote:

It's called Virga, Cam.

Thanks Bob, it's strange to watch

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

CamT wrote:

Thanks Bob, it's strange to watch

You are welcome Cam, I bet it was strange but yet something not everyone experiences makes it even more interesting.

Big dog Loc: Bayshore, Long Island, New York

Robert J Samples wrote:

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a little bit, not roundabout, or ought-to-be, but the unvarnished, bark-off truth. Now, as always, you have the right, at your own discretion to believe it, or not.

My wife and I were living in Olton, Texas and both were teaching school for this year, which I think was 1960. Our car had about seen its last gasp and we had to make a trade in order to have reliable transportation. I had gone back home and picked up a 1960 Pontiac station wagon. Now the distance one way is perhaps 250 to 300 miles, which in Texas is a little further than ‘down yonder’ or such.
Once one leaves Wichita Falls going west, you are in true West Texas. While there are still towns every once in a while, they are inhabited by strong individuals, people who are sort of like mesquite trees; strong, sorta like whet leather as independent as a ‘hog on ice’! And the reason is they have to be, or they can’t stay.

I don’t remember the time of day, but it was sometime around 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. and I could see in the far west what began to look like a sandstorm coming. It wasn’t a welcome sight and alone it would be challenging enough, but to the South and maybe South East was also a thunderhead that promised to deliver some wind and rain, and perhaps a little hail. I suppose I was driving above the speed limit around 70 MPH, but there was no way to escape what looked like a collision of these two weather systems.

Sure enough, somewhere between Chillicothe and Matador, they collided. First came the blowing sand storm that cut the visibility to maybe 20 or 30 yards, forcing me to slow down simply because I could not see any further ahead. In another 10 minutes or so the thunderhead challenged the sandstorm with a shower. Now, this was the exciting part, there were no pure raindrops falling, but mud balls! The rain was mixing with the sand storm far above and what was falling all around was a shower of mud balls. It was all I could do to see the road even before the rain started, and now my windshield wipers being assisted by water I was using to
help from the window washers weren’t keeping up. I had a liberal layer of mud all over the windshield and I had to slow down to a snail’s pace, even though I wanted to get on through this devil’s car wash.

I suppose this went for several miles before I got past the majority of the sandstorm and could get a reasonably clear windshield so that I could see clearly. I had heard about showers of mud balls before, but this was my first mud baptism! Well, now you folks who are not from Texas, you would think folks were crazy to love this country, but natives would disagree. Why I don’t really know, but I’ll bet there are some good ole boys, who at the local watering hole the next day, sipping a cup of coffee and bragging, like “Well, I got 2 inches of mud in my rain gauge yesterday!” Just Sayin…RJS

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a l... (show quote)

That’s one experience most people could only imagine, providing they read this story. If I hadn’t read it I would have never even imagined it!

Gordon Loc: Charleston South Carolina

Big dog wrote:

That’s one experience most people could only imagine, providing they read this story. If I hadn’t read it I would have never even imagined it!

Same here Dog

Barnacles Loc: Northern California

A rain of mud? I saw it once, in England of all places!
In the late 1960's, I was in the Air Force and stationed about an hour North of London. One morning we woke up to find a layer of mud on everything. There had been a big dust storm in Spain, and when it blew up over England, a rain fell through it. All of us crew chiefs were quickly put to work washing our planes!

saw1 Loc: nor cal Windsor

Robert J Samples wrote:

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a little bit, not roundabout, or ought-to-be, but the unvarnished, bark-off truth. Now, as always, you have the right, at your own discretion to believe it, or not.

My wife and I were living in Olton, Texas and both were teaching school for this year, which I think was 1960. Our car had about seen its last gasp and we had to make a trade in order to have reliable transportation. I had gone back home and picked up a 1960 Pontiac station wagon. Now the distance one way is perhaps 250 to 300 miles, which in Texas is a little further than ‘down yonder’ or such.
Once one leaves Wichita Falls going west, you are in true West Texas. While there are still towns every once in a while, they are inhabited by strong individuals, people who are sort of like mesquite trees; strong, sorta like whet leather as independent as a ‘hog on ice’! And the reason is they have to be, or they can’t stay.

I don’t remember the time of day, but it was sometime around 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. and I could see in the far west what began to look like a sandstorm coming. It wasn’t a welcome sight and alone it would be challenging enough, but to the South and maybe South East was also a thunderhead that promised to deliver some wind and rain, and perhaps a little hail. I suppose I was driving above the speed limit around 70 MPH, but there was no way to escape what looked like a collision of these two weather systems.

Sure enough, somewhere between Chillicothe and Matador, they collided. First came the blowing sand storm that cut the visibility to maybe 20 or 30 yards, forcing me to slow down simply because I could not see any further ahead. In another 10 minutes or so the thunderhead challenged the sandstorm with a shower. Now, this was the exciting part, there were no pure raindrops falling, but mud balls! The rain was mixing with the sand storm far above and what was falling all around was a shower of mud balls. It was all I could do to see the road even before the rain started, and now my windshield wipers being assisted by water I was using to
help from the window washers weren’t keeping up. I had a liberal layer of mud all over the windshield and I had to slow down to a snail’s pace, even though I wanted to get on through this devil’s car wash.

I suppose this went for several miles before I got past the majority of the sandstorm and could get a reasonably clear windshield so that I could see clearly. I had heard about showers of mud balls before, but this was my first mud baptism! Well, now you folks who are not from Texas, you would think folks were crazy to love this country, but natives would disagree. Why I don’t really know, but I’ll bet there are some good ole boys, who at the local watering hole the next day, sipping a cup of coffee and bragging, like “Well, I got 2 inches of mud in my rain gauge yesterday!” Just Sayin…RJS

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a l... (show quote)

Hey RJ. From 11 years old through high school I lived in the Lubbock area. So I know EXACTLY what you described.
If you've never lived around West Texas you might not have ever experienced some things like that.
Also hail storms like you could never imagine.
Some people have experienced "little " hail storms I'm sure.
Quarter size to golfball sized hail was not uncommon. Those destroy crops, roofs, cars and can kill livestock.
However, I'm talkin bout softball size hail, and SLAB hail storms.
Those can destroy a house and will kill anything that's caught out in them.
I've only seen the slab type hail once in my life and don't know how they formed. It's possible they might even have fallen off an aircraft that might have been flying through the storm overhead.
I can't find any mention of that type but I've witnessed it once when I was a little guy in Texas. I remember the chunks were bout an inch or so thick and some of the pieces were bigger than a pie plate.
All this bein said is just to say that in Texas when it rains it's NOT just water that falls out of the sky.
I've also witnessed it rainnin "Fish" a few times too. Actually, they were more like minnows.

Kerry Hansen Loc: Bremerton, WA

saw1 wrote:

Hey RJ. From 11 years old through high school I li... (show quote)

Had to be some very high winds at high altitude to be able to toss those chunks around long enough to build up to that size!

Kerry Hansen Loc: Bremerton, WA

Robert J Samples wrote:

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a little bit, not roundabout, or ought-to-be, but the unvarnished, bark-off truth. Now, as always, you have the right, at your own discretion to believe it, or not.

My wife and I were living in Olton, Texas and both were teaching school for this year, which I think was 1960. Our car had about seen its last gasp and we had to make a trade in order to have reliable transportation. I had gone back home and picked up a 1960 Pontiac station wagon. Now the distance one way is perhaps 250 to 300 miles, which in Texas is a little further than ‘down yonder’ or such.
Once one leaves Wichita Falls going west, you are in true West Texas. While there are still towns every once in a while, they are inhabited by strong individuals, people who are sort of like mesquite trees; strong, sorta like whet leather as independent as a ‘hog on ice’! And the reason is they have to be, or they can’t stay.

I don’t remember the time of day, but it was sometime around 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. and I could see in the far west what began to look like a sandstorm coming. It wasn’t a welcome sight and alone it would be challenging enough, but to the South and maybe South East was also a thunderhead that promised to deliver some wind and rain, and perhaps a little hail. I suppose I was driving above the speed limit around 70 MPH, but there was no way to escape what looked like a collision of these two weather systems.

Sure enough, somewhere between Chillicothe and Matador, they collided. First came the blowing sand storm that cut the visibility to maybe 20 or 30 yards, forcing me to slow down simply because I could not see any further ahead. In another 10 minutes or so the thunderhead challenged the sandstorm with a shower. Now, this was the exciting part, there were no pure raindrops falling, but mud balls! The rain was mixing with the sand storm far above and what was falling all around was a shower of mud balls. It was all I could do to see the road even before the rain started, and now my windshield wipers being assisted by water I was using to
help from the window washers weren’t keeping up. I had a liberal layer of mud all over the windshield and I had to slow down to a snail’s pace, even though I wanted to get on through this devil’s car wash.

I suppose this went for several miles before I got past the majority of the sandstorm and could get a reasonably clear windshield so that I could see clearly. I had heard about showers of mud balls before, but this was my first mud baptism! Well, now you folks who are not from Texas, you would think folks were crazy to love this country, but natives would disagree. Why I don’t really know, but I’ll bet there are some good ole boys, who at the local watering hole the next day, sipping a cup of coffee and bragging, like “Well, I got 2 inches of mud in my rain gauge yesterday!” Just Sayin…RJS

The story that I am about to tell is true, not a l... (show quote)

Only mud balls I ever saw was when I was a young kid early 1950's near the 4th of July and playing war. Make a mud ball, put a fire cracker in it, Light it and heave the "Hand Grenade" at the other guys, the "Enemy". We survived those days.