The larger ones can break glass, dent cars, shred crops, punch through screens and injure and even kill animals and occasionally humans. Small pellets make a loud clacking sound and sting when they strike our skin. ![]() Because of this ice layering, a series of concentric rings exist inside a hailstone, similar to those inside an onion.īecause what goes up, must come down, hailstones fall when their weight overcomes the strength of the updraft or the updraft simply weakens.įalling at high speeds and often accompanied by wind gusts, hail can look, sound and feel as if the sky is falling when it hits the ground. The stronger the updraft, the bigger the hailstones can grow as they collide with other raindrops that freeze to them on contact. This causes the water droplets to freeze into crystals that accumulate layers of ice as they get tossed about thousands of feet aloft. Rising air in a thunderstorm – known as an updraft – vaults summertime raindrops high into a towering cumulonimbus cloud where temperatures are below freezing. Hailstones are balls of ice, so how can they form when it’s the peak of summer? In fact, hail is a common atmospheric phenomenon during summer. Though it hasn’t hailed so far this July, it could if the right storm system rolled through. ![]() ![]() After all, it was July.īefore we get to those turbulent storms from seven years ago, let’s talk about hail. Sunny skies and warm temperatures preceded the storm outbreak. Seven years ago tomorrow, a swarm of thunderstorms rolled across the Inland Northwest, producing brief heavy rains, strong winds and some golf-sized hailstones that left a trail of damage.
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