HAILSTORM

Hailstorm is any thunder storm which produces hail that reaches the ground.

Hail is composed of transparent and translucent, which are deposited upon the hailstone as it travels through the cloud, suspended aloft by air with strong upward motion until its weight overcomes the updraft and falls to the ground.

Hailstones can be very large or very small, depending on how strong the updraft is weaker hailstorms produce smaller hailstones than stronger hailstorms.

Hail begins as water droplets. Droplets rise and the temperature goes below freezing. They become super cooled water and will freeze on contact with condensation nuclei.

The hailstone’s speed depends on its position in the cloud’s updraft and it mass. This determines the varying thicknesses of the layers of the hailstone. This means that generally the larger hailstones will form some distance from the stronger updraft where they can pass more time growing.

This may take at least 30 minutes based on the force of the updraft in the hail-producing thunderstorm, whose top is usually greater than 10 km high. Base on the same processes, until it leaves the cloud. It will later begin to melt as it passes into air above freezing temperature.

Hail can cause serious damage, notably to automobiles, aircraft, skylights, glass-roofed structures, livestock, and most commonly, crops. 

Rarely, massive hailstones have been known to cause concussions or fatal head trauma. Hailstorms have been the cause of costly and deadly events throughout history. One of the earliest known incidents occurred around the 9^th century in Roopkund, Uttarakhand, India, where 200 to 600 nomads seem to have died of injuries from hail the size of cricket balls.