From Sao Paulo to Spain, hail has taken quite the world tour. France is now its latest victim.

Thunderstorms exploded in the northern part of France this afternoon, producing hail stones the size of baseballs.

Hail in France reported today, massive! pic.twitter.com/qU2tcyHK1D — James Warner (@Nimbofartus) June 9, 2014

Hail stone storms in northern France. http://t.co/TRoGeWwSji pic.twitter.com/6YUdUrjOge — 13 Noir Protection (@13NoirProtect) June 9, 2014

Towering supercell thunderstorms produced the hail, up to 8 cm (3 inches) in diameter.

Supercell confirmed SE of Paris (5 cm hail). Convective activity bubbling up in N’ern Italy and border with France pic.twitter.com/B57iQJgdEU — Stephane Gentile (@FrenchScotPilot) June 9, 2014

The potential for severe weather had been well-forecast by European meteorologists:

Highest risk in parts of France this coming night for very large hail, very strong gusts, derechoes MT @KeraunosObs: pic.twitter.com/Hoefq6gBqT — Meteo Europe (@Meteo_Europe) June 9, 2014

@reedtimmerTVN crazy parameters this upcoming Monday for N France and Benelux. Will keep you posted #supercell #hail pic.twitter.com/sTiMaYbjdL — Anita vV (@StormhunterNL) June 7, 2014

Today marked the second straight day of severe storms.

“On Sunday night damaging winds gusting to over 110 Km/hr (nearly 70 mph) and tennis ball sized hailstones battered the Val D’oise department near Paris,” writes Euronews.com.



Difference from normal pressure at high altitude (18,000 feet) as analyzed by the GFS model at 12 UTC Monday. (WeatherBell.com)

The northern part of France laid at the intersection of pools of cold air (low pressure) and warm air (high pressure) at high altitudes, priming the atmosphere for vigorous thunderstorms.