If you were in Bernal Heights earlier today, you might have thought the sky was having a minor existential crisis. Hail — actual, bouncing-off-your-windshield hail — came down on the neighborhood in a brief but memorable burst that had residents doing double takes.

Look, San Francisco weather is famously unhinged. You can experience four seasons in a single MUNI ride. But hail in Bernal Heights still manages to catch people off guard, mostly because this city's reputation as a mild-weather paradise persists despite all evidence to the contrary.

The burst appeared to be localized, with residents in other parts of the city reporting clear skies or the usual fog-related ambiguity. Classic SF microclimates doing their thing — one neighborhood gets ice falling from the sky while another is perfectly fine for a coffee on the patio.

No reports of damage or disruption so far, which is the good news. The less good news is that unpredictable weather events like this are a reminder that San Francisco's infrastructure — storm drains, road maintenance, emergency response systems — needs to be ready for anything. And if you've seen the state of some of our storm drains, "ready" is a generous word.

This isn't a call to panic over a five-minute hailstorm. It's a nudge to ask whether the city is spending its billions in a way that keeps basic systems functioning when the weather decides to get weird. Because it will get weird again. This is San Francisco. The weather here doesn't follow rules — kind of like our city budget.