WTF, Hail?

March weather in Portland can be chancy, but I'm an eternal optimist.  I planted seeds directly in the soil a few weeks ago, after a rash of sunshine, secure in the knowledge that hardy spring greens can germinate under pretty much any conditions.  Apparently, those conditions don't include heavy rain for part of every day that waterlogged the soil.  I say the same thing every April, though, and eventually some of my seedlings come up weeks after I was expecting them and I have to reseed a few of the rows.  That's just part of a gardener's life.  One thing that I haven't accepted as part of a gardener's life is random, heavy hail.  It's just appalling.  I'm out checking on my shoots on a sunny day, trying to assess damage, and the hail starts coming down on me!  It hails for five or ten minutes and then lets up, and the sun returns.  I know it's not going to kill my little seedlings, or my daffodils and hyacinth that have been foolishly blooming since February.  I just don't like it.  And I'm pretty sure it killed the crocuses.