What causes hail?

Hail is something that occurs in most parts of the world. This does cause a lot of damage at times and it can be very troublesome also but what is hail?  Hail is a variety of differently shaped ice balls or lumps. These are mostly referred to hailstones and in most occasions, are not harmful but in some instances, they can be very dangerous.

Hail or hailstones are made up of water ice and can be any size; it can be measured anything from five millimetres and two hundred millimetres. Though, most hail are produced during thunderstorms and heavy rains and aren’t worrying.

How Is Hail Created?

Hail and hailstorms can be created in any continent and can occur in any country around the world, even the countries which have good weather. If this happens, they could be very dangerous when they come down in a rain shower. Though, if they aren’t large, it shouldn’t be anything more than a normal rain shower.

However, many scientists can predict when thunderstorms are going to happen and can detect hailstorms and hail occurring. This can be done through weather radar imagery and satellites used especially for predicting weather and weather changes. When the hail is created and are larger than normal or average size, then they will fall at greater speeds. However, things such as friction with wind and air; and melting and the hail’s interaction with other hailstones and rain can slow down the speeds.
Hail can be created with strong and upward motions of air but a lower freeze level.  Some formations might gather more pressure and create larger balls or lumps of ice water.  In some instances, the hail forms inside the interiors of continents but in climates with higher temperatures such as in the tropics, the formation stays at a high elevation level.

Understanding Hail and How It Is Formed

Hail is basically caused during thunderstorms and if hail actually reaches the human population, it is known as hailstorms. However, their size can vary as can its weight because it can be anything up to one pound and over. The worst part of hail is that they have layers and layers of ice water clamped and stuck together and it can be an odd looking size also.

This is basically ice on top of ice; thick layers of ice could be the size of a golf ball or larger.  If the formation is over a certain size then it can cause serious damage to property and human life.  Hailstones can actually be very small and sometimes undetectable but they can be very large in size also and that does mean added weight. The size can vary in terms of how strong the updraft is; and if the hailstorms are weaker then smaller hailstones are going to be formed. Larger or stronger hailstorms are classed as super cells.

The hail is formed in stronger thunderstorm clouds when there is an intense updraft; and the high liquid water content increases. If the cloud is well below freezing then the ice water can be formed. If the air temperature is very cold, more formations of hail will be created.