Facts about Hailstorms

Hailstorm or rather hail, is a very curious geographical and climatic phenomenon. A hailstorm is named such, due to the fact that during the storm, hail or balls of ice fall in huge quantities on earth. The hail are nothing but irregular lumps or balls of ice. The specialty of a hailstorm is that both hail i.e. balls of ice and rain water fall during the storm, at the same time. In regions that fall outside the tropical belt, hail is accompanied by ice, that is so thin that it forms a translucent sheet in the atmosphere. Hailstorms also occur in many tropical and monsoon regions of the world. These hailstorms, however are not severe and destructive. Many a times, these types of smaller hailstorms are joyously welcomed by people residing in tropical, sub-tropical and monsoon regions, after a long and dry summer.

The following are some interesting facts about hailstorms.

• Hailstorms, though destructive in nature are a form of precipitation, like snow and rain, and are hence unavoidable.
• The ice ball that falls down from the sky with a great force, during a hailstorm, is known as a 'hailstone'. An average 'hailstone' can have any diameter between 5 to 150 millimeters.
• The hailstorms are not exactly storms, but are a side effect of a much bigger storm, the thunderstorm. In fact, hailstorms originate from thunderclouds.
• The hail originates from thunderclouds that are also known as Cumulonimbus clouds.
• Weather forecast agencies and departments, newspapers, TV channels and other media organizations, do not refer to the actual size of a hailstones in millimeters, while reporting the severity of a hailstorm. The objects of comparison that are often used are, coins like, cents, dimes or dollars. Some other objects also include marbles, golf balls and peas. For Example: Last night's hailstorm, was not very severe and the size of hail was equivalent to that of a 'pea'.
• One of the most sever and dangerous hailstorms that occurred in the modern times fell on the night of 7th of July, 2009, in a suburb of New York, known as Yonkers. The storm left behind a two inches thick layer of snow and caused a flash flood and also one mud slide.
• The largest of all hailstorms was recorded in Aurora, Nebraska, United States in 2003.
• Another very big hailstorm occurred early in the 9th century, in Roopkund, India. It is supposed to be one of the earliest officially recorded hailstorms.
• In Colorado, United States, the citizens have a 'hailstorm season', that lasts from March to October, every year.
• Hailstorms have rarely lasted for more than 15 minutes. The median of the time span of these storms is about 6 minutes.
• According to the climate departments of governments all over the world, hailstones must have at least ¾ inch of diameter to become severe, and cause a substantial amount of damage.
• Hailstorms usually occur mostly in mountainous regions than the regions with a lower temperature.

Being a nature's phenomenon and a type of natural disaster, hailstorms are unavoidable, but many of the nations and regions who repeatedly suffer from hailstorms, have set up excellent infrastructure for recovery, rescue and remedy.