>Started raining AGAIN, I'll speculate.  

>The first rain caught some of your bees unaware...

Well, it was over 30 years ago, so I have difficulty in remembering the
entire day's weather, but I am sure that the bees were not on wet ground.

Whatever the detail, we do sometimes see bees return to a hive and pitch on
grass or weeds in front and then get chilled.  You can get a similar
situation if you protect hives from woodpeckers with a very small mesh
chicken wire; large mesh they fly through, small mesh they pitch on first
and then can get chilled and not make it that short distance to the
entrance.

Best wishes

Peter
52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W

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