Rare Hail Storm Covers Streets And Neighborhoods Throughout Sacramento Region

SACRAMENTO (CBS 13) — Wild weather surged through the Sacramento region Wednesday.

Rain, hail, sunshine and more all happened within minutes. Neighbors in Woodland, Roseville, Citrus Heights were hit hard by hail early Wednesday afternoon. Thick balls of ice blanketed streets and backyards.

"I've never seen anything like this. It's really thick. It's almost like snow and I've had the hardest time I've ever had warming up my car," said Dan Bacher, who lives in Arden-Arcade.

A drive down Interstate 5 turned hazardous like winter mountain travel. Woodland firefighters responded to several accidents.

"When you're driving and you're not expecting hail to be coming out of the sky or rain and you're driving maybe faster than you should be," said Emily Walling, the Woodland Fire Marshall.

The football field at El Camino Fundamental High School had enough icy slush to shovel. It caught the football and soccer players in the middle of practice.

"It started hailing really fast and everybody's hands started getting numb and the ball got really wet and heavy," said quarterback Luke Coleman, the quarterback.

"We're just going to have practice today and see how it goes," said soccer coach Octavio Rodrigues. "Definitely didn't see this coming especially it being March. It's crazy weather just coming out of nowhere."

When what looks like a picture-perfect holiday photo from Tahoe, was actually a March afternoon in Sacramento.

"People have got to be real careful driving in this because they're not used to driving in really thick slushy hail," Bacher said.