Originally Posted by
staehpj1
When I have been caught out in hail it was most often accompanied by lightning. A grove of trees like you chose to seek shelter in is probably an OK choice. On the other hand, for those in situations where there is only a single tree it might be safer to stay out in the hail unless it is really big hail. Other wise you might be avoiding one danger in favor of a worse one.
Our hail here is a variation of snow. It snows at higher elevations and rains at lower elevations ... but somewhere in between, it hails. All a part of winter in Tasmania.
There was no lightening.