Science busts the myth

LAHORE: Water samples of an ice block, that allegedly fell from the sky and killed an old woman, have been released by the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR). The sample has revealed the ice to be made from ground water and thereby locally manufactured.

According to police station Dera Raheem SHO, “The bereaved family is considering the death as the will of God but no one is ready to think about the incident in a different manner,” Allah Ditta said. Normally a post mortem report is issued a day after the procedure but the report was delayed, according to the SHO.

According to an internationally recognised book, available with the Met Department Lahore ‘Introduction to Weather & Climate Change’ by Laura Howel, there are two record sizes of a snowball or snowflake.

The largest single snowball fell on September 3, 1970, in Coffyville Kansas USA and weighed in at 750 grams. The largest snowflake ever measured fell in Montana, USA in 1887 and was 38cm across and 20cm thick. According to the director regional meteorological, Lahore who sent samples of water and ice to the PCSIR, “There is no possibility of a snow ball this size falling from the sky.”

Published in the Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2010.