Posted by We’re in the middle of summer. Iowa summers are hot and sticky. Though occasionally we’ll get rain during this time, and occasionally even hail. Hail is a precipitation consisting of solid ice. Then you may ask, how can solid ice form when the weather is hot like summer?
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), hailstones are formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere and freeze. Hailstones then grow by colliding with liquid water drops that freeze onto the hailstone’s surface.
Formation of hail is a hallmark of strong thunderstorms, and the eventual size of the hailstone depends on how long they can remain floating in the atmosphere without falling, and that is dependent on the strength of the updraft.
I have personally witnessed golf-size hailstones, but I have heard of news report of baseball-size to softball-size a few times before. The largest hailstone recorded was the size of a volleyball. That would definitely hurt if you are hit by them.
Hail causes $1 billion in damage in property and crops each year here in the US. Fortunately only a few people die from hailstones as most of us are able to take shelter when they start falling.
Here’s a video clip of our recent summer rain (hail).