Fortean ice

Chunks of ice that fell in Spain over the last few weeks came from the upper
atmosphere, according to scientists called in to investigate. Some of the blocks
weighed up to 4 kilograms. The blocks’ composition rules out comets and
aeroplanes as the source. But scientists are still puzzled. “We know that hail
can sometimes grow up to the size of a baseball, but not a 4-kilogram mass,”
says Fernando López Vera, a geophysicist at the Independent University of
Madrid.