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Hail is a form of solid precipitation. [1] It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. [ 2 ] It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone . [ 3 ]
Such storms are rarely severe and are a result of local atmospheric instability; hence the term "air mass thunderstorm". When such storms have a brief period of severe weather associated with them, it is known as a pulse severe storm. Pulse severe storms are poorly organized and occur randomly in time and space, making them difficult to forecast.
The storm's updraft, with upwardly directed wind speeds as high as 180 kilometres per hour (110 mph), [14] blow the forming hailstones up the cloud. As the hailstone ascends it passes into areas of the cloud where the concentration of humidity and supercooled water droplets varies.
Cumulonimbus storm cells can produce torrential rain of a convective nature (often in the form of a rain shaft) and flash flooding, as well as straight-line winds. Most storm cells die after about 20 minutes, when the precipitation causes more downdraft than updraft, causing the energy to dissipate.
Lightning: this storm cloud is capable of producing bursts of cloud-to-ground lightning. Hail: hailstones may fall from this cloud if it is a highly unstable environment (which favours a more vigorous storm updraft). Heavy rain: this cloud may drop several inches (centimetres) of rain in a short amount of time. This can cause flash flooding.
Unlike hail or sleet, graupel is soft and can be crushed easily in your hand, and is sometimes called "soft hail." It is also usually smaller than hail, with a diameter of around 0.08-0.2 inches.
Was the white stuff found near the Hollywood sign on Thursday snow — or graupel or accumulated hail? There was debate.
Extreme hail damage, not often seen in the Carolinas, was caused by the storms, including ripped-off siding, leaves stripped from trees and shredded vinyl fences. Sunday morning, piles of hail had ...