Photo By Keviln MA / TribuneThis is a crazy story from TBO.com. This one goes into the WTF? catagory:

Mysterious Falling Ice Chunk Leaves Man’s Car On The Rocks

By JASON GEARY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jan 29, 2007

TAMPA - With a loud groaning noise, a large chunk of ice plummeted from the sky Sunday morning, crushing a Tampa man’s dream car but missing nearby houses on Hilldrop Court.

Residents looked in disbelief at the wreckage of the red 2000 Ford Mustang, its roof pushed inward and rear window blown out.

“I did not believe it until I came and looked at it for myself,” said Carlos Javage, 52, of Tampa.

The car had belonged to his 20-year-old son, Andres, for about a year.

Saturday night, the son parked his Mustang outside a friend’s home at 9406 Hilldrop Court in northwest Tampa, planning to return later to fetch it. Sunday morning, he got the unhappy news.

Carlos Javage said his son, who is still paying off the car, was in shock.

“That was his dream car,” he said.

Bits of glass and ice littered the car’s damp back seat. A baseball-size piece of ice stood near the spoiler.

John Young, 38, who lives across the street, stored a larger piece - about as big as a football - in his refrigerator.

At about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Ramon Rodriguez, 50, was standing yards away washing his own car when the ice fell. Rodriguez said he couldn’t see what was causing a loud groaning noise until the Mustang’s rear window burst.

Barry Goldsmith, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said complex weather circumstances in the upper levels of the atmosphere may create large balls of ice, known as megacryometeors.

But Sunday’s weather conditions alone - partly cloudy, cool and breezy - likely weren’t responsible for such a destructive chunk of ice.

Inspectors with the Federal Aviation Administration began reviewing flight schedules Sunday to determine whether the ice might have come from an aircraft.

“We are looking into it,” FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. “There are various ways ice can form on a plane and break off.”

For instance, there are cases of blue ice related to the lavatory of a plane, she said.

However, the ice that struck the Mustang was clear.

Carlos Javage said his son has contacted an insurance agent to explain the odd story.

“It’s not an act of God,” Carlos Javage said. “This came off an airplane.”

Reporter Jason Geary can be reached at (813) 865-1505 or jgeary@tampatrib.com.

View blog reactions

2 Responses to “Welcome to Florida - Now Watch For Falling Sunshine and Ice”  

  1. 1 Jim Swenerton

    Great article! We could use some falling ice here in Park City! No snow in weeks! I was wondering if you could tell me where you found the Arr, as it were, Translate Page, Killer Feature!

    Thanks,

    Jim

  2. 2 Mark Spence

    It is a wordpress plugin. I got it from http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins, they have every one you can think of.

    Thanks, I hope the translate feature is helpful. BTW how is the Sundance festival going? My wife said Park City is a pretty place.

    Thanks for commenting.

    PEACE
    Mark
    aka
    The Tampa Pirate

    Read more from Mark Spence

    The Scurvy Dog of the Week is Back

    What’s a Scurvy Dog? A Scurvy Dog is an old pirate term defined as follows:
    scurvy dog skur’ve n dog n - Pirate talk for a vile; mean; low; vulgar; contemptible person.
    I have decided.[...]

Leave a Reply