Kevin went back to his desk at the University of Hawaii's storm center. He was sitting in front of a bunch of monitors showing all kinds of data and graphs, as well as different satellite images and IR pictures of the tropical storm building up south of the big island. He picked up the hastily made placard in front of his desk and read it: KEVIN GABRIEL: HAWAIIAN TROPICAL STORM TEAM HEAD. He sighed…. there should be a Dr. title on that placard…his graduation has been postponed indefinitely when NOAA went to work with the new and unusual Pacific storms, and as far as he knew, there has been no talk about the doctorate graduation. He placed it back; only to notice the pile of paperwork covering a picture he had placed, one of the only pictures he brought to Hawaii when he went to work on his degrees. There he was, him, Allison, and some of their friends, all with their arms wrapped on each other's shoulders. It was basically the last picture they took of them all as a group, before moving on…at a going away party. Allison had gone to college in Scotland with another one of their friends in the picture; Kevin went here to Hawaii; and well, he really had no idea where the other 3 shown went. He paused, staring at Allison smiling back at him. She never should have been working on his Venice home; he was supposed to have been back from graduation by then. He should have been there, helping here, and overseeing the completion of the renovations of a new house in the Hollywood Hills. Everyone kept asking why move to that place, and only he knew why. If they only knew what renovations were being done, they would know. But its not like he could freely tell them, at least not yet. This just added more guilt, that not only was his best friend working her butt off to help him, without him, but that for the first time since he first met her in middle school, he was keeping something from her, even if it was just for a surprise. Kevin was so deep in his thoughts, that he didn't notice one of his good friends and professors walk up behind him.
"Kewine? Aloha? 'Oe 'ike hiki? You feel alright?"
Kevin practically jumped out of his chair, nearly dropping his only access to LA at that point. "Kaumaha, sorry Dr. Hal"
"Kevin… what's wrong. You know you're looked upon very highly."
"I know, I'm just… well, I never really expected to be here this long."
"I understand, and you should know, you have done way more than any of your classmates have, and you have my thanks. Don't worry, this is just a strange anomaly, and hey, this is what you'll have to do during hurricane season. Hey tell you what, I'll let you-"
"Oh my God, this is incredible! The Japan storm is heading inland, and I've never seen this kind of power!" shouted someone monitoring the new storm system near the Japanese home islands. People started moving and stirring about in their chairs with the news update.
Dr. Hal looked up and went back into his commanding pose. "Show me, on the large screen."
The big LCD panels at the front of the room lit up with a Doppler radar of the storm heading into the island, directly towards Tokyo. Kevin looked up and was amazed at what he saw. The Doppler showed nothing but purple and white, indicators of the highest possible levels of power and energy. He just stared at the immense storm, with only three words he could utter, "Oh my God."
Dr. Hal never even flinched, openly flinched, that is. But even Kevin could tell that he was amazed. "Transmit all date to the respectable stations. We're suspending multiple tracking, I want everyone on this storm. Kimo, what are we looking at here?"
An older student, not yet ready for doctorate study but finished with his masters, spoke. "Surface temps dropping, rain… uh, professor, I think we may be seeing hail, but the computer is giving weird readings"
"Ok, then I want cloud status, Kevin?"
Kevin glanced at his monitor, currently displaying side view of the Doppler reading, and still he couldn't believe it. He started looking at the data coming in on the cloud, and was astonished at the findings. "Professor, altitude is surpassing… over 30,000 feet! Temperatures ranging from 50 degrees to below 30 degrees… this storm is unmasking more energy that I have ever seen! Detecting convection cycles within the cloud…of immense proportions. I have the feeling we'll be seeing hail that makes Coffeyville, Kansas look like pebbles."
Dr. Hal was silent as he looked at the screen. It was his turn to look amazed. "Auwe ko'u Akua"
Just then, another young man came running down the hall, into the so named "control room." Breathless, he took a moment to stop, and then tell the news he had been carrying. "Sir, the Japan Meteorological Agency is on the phone, they are reporting heavy rainfall, and hail of increasing size!"
Another voice came, this time from the front of the room, "Sir, Japan has newscaster reporting record hail."
"Show me" replied Dr. Hal.
One of the front screens changed, this time showing a Japanese woman, for the English-speaking station.
"…ust started falling a few minutes ago, and already Tokyo is seeing nothing that has ever been seen before. The storm, which the JMA has already declared worst of the year, has recently started dropping hail. And if you see this here… they are already the size of baseballs. Experts say that this particular storm is by far, the biggest and str-"
The next thing that happened was too unbelievable, an exaggerated Hollywood effect. Right behind the report, the windshield to their news van just shattered, all on live TV. The reporter turned to investigate, and pulled out a broken part of a hailstone, larger than the ones that were falling! Soon, another one fell, this one caught on tape by the cameraman. These gigantic almost basketball size hailstones were falling right in front of Kevin, confirming the extraordinary data on his monitor. Although the reporter immediately ran for shelter, the cameraman did the opposite, deciding that rating were more important, and went for close up of the hailstones. The reporter in the background was frantically screaming in Japanese, but even Kevin could tell she was yelling for the cameraman to move. The shots on the TV were of telephone poles, lights and signs, as well as the van itself, being completely demolished. At this point, the camera was on the antenna, as a few hailstones were making large holes in it. The room stood quiet, all eyes on the screen, now starting to fade the destruction of the antenna. Suddenly, the camera lost focus as it seems to tumble, and was on its side on the ground. A hand appeared, and landed almost in front of the camera, the reporter screaming his name. The last thing they saw before the screen went to static was more hail, and the explosion of the camera as hail pelted it.
The Hawaiian staff stood in silence. Only Dr. Hal made any sound at all. "Get me the JMA. Now."
The young man who first came with the JMA news ran back to the office, only to come back 5 minutes later. "Sir, we lost the connection… we cant get hold of them… I think they were hit."
Kevin sighed, and looked back at the monitor. The data flowing in told that the storm was over. "Professor, the storm is dissipating. It's over now." Dr. Hal looked at him, and nodded. This was the worst hailstorm on record, and it completely devastated Tokyo. Kevin thought about going to the cafeteria, and ordering some food, and a soda, and was ready to do it, until he heard that last thing he wanted to hear.
"Sir, the Australian typhoon is starting to make landfall!"