What the "hail" was that?
A pocket of cold air aloft combined with an upper air disturbance, kicked off a few exciting thunderstorms on Thursday afternoon. This time it wasn't wind that caused major problems, it was hail! Why hail forms has everything to do with how low the freezing line is in a thunderstorm.
The hail nucleus, buoyed by the updraft is carried aloft by the updraft and begins to grow in size as it collides with supercooler raindrops and other small pieces of hail. Sometimes the hailstone is blown out of the main updraft and begins to falls to the earth. If the updraft is strong enough it will move the hailstone back into the cloud where it once again collides with water and hail and grows.
This process may be repeated several time. In any case, when the hailstone can no longer be supported by the updraft it falls to the earth. The stronger the updraft, the larger the hailstones that can be produced by the thunderstorm.
Image Courtesy of www.srh.noaa.gov
I couldn't believe it when I saw hail today! I had heard that there was a chance for some storms, but I had thought of only just rain. We hadn't gotten any in my area on Tuesday when that big storm passed through, so I guess this was the weather making up for that. =P
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ReplyDeleteSay it twice! It adds more EMPHASIS EMPHASIS!
ReplyDeleteWhat's the largest hailstone ever recorded? I've seen baseball-sized ones on TV. Can they get bigger than that? I wouldn't want to be outside in it. Or driving. Or next to a window. Or in a mini van.
ReplyDeleteI recently learned that the largest hailstone fell in Aurora, Nebraska in 2003 (this day, June 22). It had a 7-inch diameter and a circumference of 18.75 in.
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