Wednesday, August 20, 2008

What is Hail



Hail is a form of precipitation which consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice (hailstones). Hailstones usually consist mostly of water ice and measure between 5 and 150 millimeters in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorm. Hail is only produced by thunderclouds, usually at the front of the storm system, and is composed of transparent ice or alternating layers of transparent and translucent ice at least 1 mm thick. The METAR code for hail 5 mm or greater in diameter is GR, while smaller hailstones and graupel are coded GS. Unlike ice pellets, they are layered and can be irregular and clumped together.


Post by : PTF

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