A number of freak storms have been reported in northern Belize over the past five days. For example, these are actual hailstones that pummeled the northern Corozal District on Saturday night at 7:30. Area residents told us that they thought stones were hitting their roofs and when they went outside, they saw dozens of these small hailstones – balls of ice, really coming down. This picture is of a group of them in a plate captured on a cell phone camera. They say that the hailstorm lasted for about a minute.

And then CTV-3 from Orange Walk reports that on Tuesday evening in Blue Creek, a storm like a tornado snapped trees and scattered branches, ripped off roofs and brought down power lines. That was preceded by stark lighting and accompanied by – again – hailstones. Residents surmised that while it felt like a tornado it was more likely a microburst type storm.

The nearby village of San Victor also experienced heavy winds around the same time. There was no hail but one house lost part of its roof during the storm. Residents say the winds felt like a tropical storm. Residents of nearby San Jose reported hail coming down at the same time.

So what's with all the very strange weather? Is it climate change on steroids? Well, according to the Met Office, it did show up on the radar as an unusually strong thunderstorm which were forecasted.

Small hailstorms have been reported in Belize before, but only very rarely.