Hail
How does hail form? It starts out as falling rain, several miles up in the clouds. But an updraft(an upward blowing wind) holds it aloft, moving it upward instead of allowing it to fall. As it goes up, it freezes because of the colder temperatures aloft. Drops of supercooled water(agitated liquid water colder than 32 degrees) hit these pellets of ice and freeze on. The mass of ice may fall and then be lifted again several times, each time getting larger and larger as more water freezes onto it. When the hail is so big that the updraft can't hold it aloft any more, it falls to the ground. Other times, the updraft may weaken, or shift its position and the hail falls because of that. The stronger the updraft is, the larger the hail can be. It takes an updraft of 55+ mph to create hail the size of a golf ball, and an updraft of 90+ or more mph to create hail the size of a baseball.
It usually takes hail the size of a hen’s egg to dent a car, but hail the size of baseballs can kill animals who can't find a sheltering tree that breaks the fall of the fall.
When cut in half, hail may display layers of clear ice separated by layers of cloudy ice, similar to tree rings seen on cut trees. It may be round, but can also be flattened, with knobs and bumps.
How big does it get? THIS is how big! Here are some hail reports, straight from National Weather Service offices:
TIME
AND TOWN STATE SIZE OF HAIL AND DESCRIPTION
DATE
0305 PM ID .25 INCH HAIL
04/23/98 GEM PEA SIZE HAIL REPORTED OVER SOUTHEAST PORTION OF
COUNTY
0648 PM GADSDEN AL .5 INCH HAIL
04/14/98 ETOWAH MARBLE SIZED HAIL COVERING
THE GROUND JUST NORTH OF
GADSDEN
0650 PM AL .75 INCH HAIL
04/14/98 ETOWAH DIME SIZED HAIL COVERING
THE GROUND NEAR SOUTHSIDE
JUST TO THE SOUTH OF
INTERSTATE 59
0848 PM MORLEY MO DIME SIZE HAIL
04/13/98 SCOTT
0856 PM MOUND CITY IL NICKEL SIZE HAIL
04/13/98 PULASKI
530 PM SHELTON WA HAIL
04/14/98 MASON MASON 22H
THUNDERSTORM, WITH GRAPE
SIZED HAIL
1044 PM 3 SE VINTON IA 0.75 INCH HAIL
04/15/98 BENTON PEA TO PENNY SIZE HAIL
0832 PM BEAGLE KS .75 INCH HAIL
04/14/98 MIAMI DIME SIZE HAIL IN
SOUTHERN PART OF COUNTY
0848 PM 2 NW COLCHESTER IL 0.80 INCH HAIL
04/15/98 MCDONOUGH DIME TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL
0302 PM BOISE ID .88 INCH HAIL
04/23/98 ADA NICKEL HAIL REPORTED AT
INTERSECTION OF ORCHARD
AND OVERLAND
0550 PM CROFTON MD .88 INCH HAIL
04/17/98 ANNE ARUNDEL HAIL SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN
A QUARTER REPORTED BY
OFF-DUTY NWS EMPLOYEE
0900 AM HAZEN AR 1 INCH HAIL
04/16/98 PRAIRIE MARBLE TO QUARTER SIZE
0250 PM REAGAN TN 1 INCH HAIL
04/16/98 HENDERSON QUARTER SIZE HAIL REPORTED
BY HENDERSON COUNTY SHERIFF
0835 PM MACYVILLE KS 1.5 INCH HAIL
05/11/98 CLOUD WALNUT SIZE HAIL FELL 3
MILES NORTHWEST OF
MACYVILLE
0253 PM SELMER TN 1.25 INCH HAIL
04/16/98 MCNAIRY HALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL REPORTED
BY SPOTTER
0410 PM APPLETON AL 1.5 INCH HAIL
04/22/98 ESCAMBIA PING PONG SIZE HAIL
100 AM MADRAS GA 1.50
5/8/98 COWETA PUBLIC REPORTS HAIL THE SIZE
OF LEMONS DAMAGED CAR
0255 PM WHITE BLUFF TN 1.75 INCH HAIL
04/16/98 DICKSON SPOTTER REPORTED 8 MILES
NORTH OF WHITE BLUFF THAT
GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL WAS
COVERING THE GROUND TO A
DEPTH OF 2 1/2 INCHES
0225 PM MIDDLETON TN 1.75 INCH HAIL
04/16/98 HARDEMAN GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL
REPORTED BY SPOTTER
0709 PM 3 S STRATFORD OK 1.875 INCH HAIL
04/14/98 GARVIN REPORTED BY OFF DUTY
SPC EMPLOYEE
0428 PM 1 W 1 N OBERLIN KS 2 INCH HAIL
04/14/98 DECATUR
05/12/98 LA SALLE IL BILLIARD BALL SIZE HAIL
0635 PM PURVIS MS 2.5 INCH HAIL
04/17/98 LAMAR COVERED THE
GROUND...REPORTED BY
SHERIFFS OFFICE
0430 PM VESTAVIA HILLS AL 2.5 INCH HAIL
04/14/98 JEFFERSON TENNIS BALL SIZED HAIL
MEASURED BY AN OFF DUTY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
EMPLOYEE.
0425 PM LEWISBURG KY 2.75 INCH HAIL
04/16/98 LOGAN BASEBALL SIZE HAIL BETWEEN
LEWISBURG AND EPLEY
STATION
0907 PM NEAR POTWIN KS 4.00 INCH HAIL
04/14/98 BUTLER 2 REPORTS OF GRAPEFRUIT
SIZE HAIL
0532 PM CARNES MS 4.5 INCH HAIL
04/17/98 FORREST NUMEROUS REPORTS OF
GOLFBALL TO SOFTBALL SIZED
HAIL BETWEEN CARNES AND
SUNRISE...REPORTED BY
HATTIESBURG EOC
0646 PM LITTLETON IL 4.5 INCH HAIL
05/12/98 SCHUYLER COVERING THE GROUND
(SHERIFF)
Here are some video stills I took of hail we have seen:
And in Clovis, New Mexico:
And here are photos of hail taken by other people: Gene Moore’s grapefruit hail
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