10 things you might not know about hailstorms.

(Baonghean.vn) - Hailstorms are one of the most dangerous natural phenomena on Earth. With extremely strong thunderstorms and tornadoes, coupled with the destructive power of hailstones, houses, trees, and people are all at risk. Hidden within hailstorms are many secrets you may not know.

People in Mai Son commune, Tuong Duong district, Nghe An province, are collecting ice from the hailstorm on the afternoon of April 9th ​​and putting it into bowls.

1. People often think hailstorms occur in winter, but the truth is that summer is when hailstorms are most likely to happen. Hail is essentially caused by instability in the atmosphere when two streams of hot and cold air meet. Therefore, in summer, when there are many columns of hot, energetic air, it is easier to create thunderstorm clouds that produce hail.

2. In the largest clouds (called cumulonimbus clouds), the air in the upper part of the cloud is colder, and the water vapor there condenses into small ice particles. These ice particles move down to the lower part of the cloud and then back up to the upper part, repeating this process, each time thickening the layer of ice around the ice particles. When they are heavy enough, these ice particles fall to the ground and create hail.

3. For a cloud to produce hail, the temperature at the top of the cloud must be below -20°C and most of the cloud must be below freezing (0°C). Combined with thunderstorms, this will create large hailstones.

4. Hailstones typically range in diameter from 5 to 200 mm, ranging from as small as a pea to as large as an egg or even a grapefruit. Each hailstone can weigh up to 1 kg, and if several hailstones stick together, they can form a mass of 4 kg.

When we cut a hailstone in half, we see ice rings.

5. Hailstones fall at extremely high speeds, so they don't melt before hitting the ground, even in the middle of a hot summer day. A hailstone the size of a tennis ball (about 75mm in diameter), weighing 150 grams, can fall at a speed of 160 km/h. This explains why crops and houses are severely damaged after just a few minutes of hailstorm.

6. When you cut a hailstone in half, you can see ring-shaped objects made of ice. Some "ice rings" are milky white, others are transparent. The layers of "ice rings" intertwine; the number of layers indicates the number of times the hailstones have moved up and down the cloud top.

7. In some cold climates like England, hailstorms are common in winter, but this is not the type of hail we are discussing in this article. Locals call these hailstorms Graupel. This is a type of soft hail, formed when slow-freezing water droplets combine with a layer of ice or frost to form raindrops. Soft hail is similar to snow and is not as harmful as hard hail.

Hailstorms are a very dangerous natural phenomenon.

8. The largest hailstone ever recorded in England was in Horsham, West Sussex on September 5, 1958, weighing 142 grams.

9. Meanwhile, in the US, the largest hailstone weighed 0.88 kg and had a diameter of up to 20 cm. This hailstone appeared in a hailstorm on July 23, 2010, in Vivian, South Dakota.

10. Hailstorms not only damage property and crops but can also kill people. In 1888, nearly 250 people in India died as a result of hailstorms.

Thanh Hien

(According to Huffington Post)