Hail pummelled homes as spring storms swept through New Jersey.

The sudden hailstorm battered houses in Freehold, New Jersey, as rising temperatures triggered severe spring thunderstorms.

Footage shows pea-sized hailstones raining down and scattering across a backyard in the suburban town on May 2.

The National Weather Service issued an Enhanced Risk alert for areas south of I-40, warning of wind gusts up to 40 mph and hailstones as large as 0.25 inches.

Local weather reports also documented dramatic, wave-like cloud formations near the 240/385 junction—often an early indicator of approaching storms.

Authorities urged residents to stay indoors and take appropriate precautions as the severe weather threat persisted.

Hail forms when powerful updrafts in thunderstorms carry raindrops into freezing layers of the atmosphere. There, they freeze and grow by colliding with supercooled water droplets before eventually falling—a phenomenon common in spring and summer storms.