What is a Hailstone ?

Hail is an irregular lump or pellet of ice that falls from a cloud during a thunderstorm. They areusually made up of water and ice and sometimes even dust.  Their size can range from small pellets of 0.2 inches to giant destruction causing ones of 6 inches. The giant ones occur during severe thunderstorms.

The largest reported hailstone was in Aurora, Nebraska on June 22, 2003 and was said to be 7 inch diameter, 18.75 inches circumference.

Hail formation requires environments of strong, upward motion of air with the parent thunderstorm. In the Hail Formation page I will show you how exactly are strong upward winds responsible for hail formation.

Hail is composed of transparent ice or alternating layers of transparent ice due to the upward cycles, which is visible in case we cut a hailstone in half. The core of a hailstone is usually a graupel particle, or a cluster of graupel.

Hailstones in different languages:

• Dutch:                  hagelsteen

• Italian:                  chicco di grandine

• Russian:               градина

• Spanish:               granizo

• Danish:                 hagl

• Chinese:              冰雹