Sorry to go off at a tangent but the following concerns severe wx:
Years ago in my 737-200 days we were within 100 miles of TOD when our single wx radar failed. It was daylight, the forecast & actual for our destination were not indicating any adverse wx, the vis was good and there was a solid layer of cloud below us stretching across the horizon with a smooth top at approx. 10.000'.
We contacted the radar controller at our destination and also spoke to aircraft that had just got airborne climbing towards us and enquired if there was any wx painting on anyone's radar. All responses were negative so we continued cautiously to our planned destination.
During the descent we entered the cloud layer at approx. 10.000' and due to the requirement for engine anti ice and 55%N1 (so long ago, is that the correct figure?) speedbrake was required to maintain an appropriate rate of descent. Shortly after entering the cloud we hit what we later discovered to be a rapidly developing Cb that had been totally obscured by the surrounding cloud. With full speebrake extended and an IAS of 280 kts our ROD became a ROC of 1500ft/min and the noise of the hail hitting the ac was so intense that we could not hear one another across the flight deck. I kept thinking that the eyebrow windows would give in and even though the encounter only lasted approx. 30 secs it was one of the most frightening experiences of my flying career.
Upon reaching the stand the engineer's jaw dropped in amazement. Inspection of the a/c revealed that 2/3 of the nosecone had been punctured, the top and bottom anti-collision light structures were missing, the wing root landing light housings were destroyed, all the leading edges were dimpled and the spoilers looked as though someone had taken a hammer to them.
Having reported the encounter to ATC, within minutes of landing we were informed that the met office had earlier issued a hail warning and dispatched an airman (doing his national service, it was a joint civil/military airfield) with the information to pass on to ATC, but he was distracted en-route and never passed it on!!