HAIL

Introduction
Hail is a form of precipitation that occurs when updrafts in thunderstorms carry raindrops
upward into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere where they freeze into balls of ice. Hail can
damage aircraft, homes and cars, and can be deadly to livestock and people.
How does hail form?
Hail forms when thunderstorm updrafts are strong enough to carry water droplets well above the
freezing level. This freezing process forms a hailstone, which can grow as additional water
freezes onto it. Eventually, the hailstone becomes too heavy for the updrafts to support it and it
falls to the ground.
How does hail fall to the ground?
Hail falls when it becomes heavy enough to overcome the strength of the updraft and is pulled by
gravity towards the earth. How it falls is dependent on what is going on inside the thunderstorm.
Hailstones bump into other raindrops and other hailstones inside the thunderstorm, and this
bumping slows down their fall.
What areas have the most hail?
Though Florida has the most thunderstorms, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming usually have the
most hail storms. Other parts of the world that have damaging hailstorms include China, Russia,
India and northern Italy.
How large can hail get?
Hail is usually pea-sized to marble-sized, but big thunderstorms can produce big hail. The largest
hailstone recovered in the U.S. fell in Vivian, SD on June 23, 2010 with a diameter of 8 inches
and a circumference of 18.62 inches.
Causes of hail
Hail can kill: It’s happened around the world throughout history. Sometimes the death toll
reaches into the hundreds. Injuries and fatalities depend on the size of the hail stones, the wind
speed and the frequency with which the stones fall. Some reports are as follows
 200 people were killed by a sudden and severe hailstorm while traveling through a valley
in Roopkund, India,
 More than 200 people were believed to be killed during a hailstorm in China in 1932.
In what may be the deadliest hailstorm recorded, hailstones took the lives of 246 people
in Moradabad, India, in 1988.
 Hailstones weighing up to two pounds caused the deaths of 92 people in Gopalganj,
Bangladesh in 1986.