(WKBW-TV), Buffalo — We’re getting deeper into spring, and that means thunderstorm season.
Some of Western New York’s biggest thunderstorms are often accompanied by large hail. But did you ever wonder what goes into making a hailstone? Let’s explore THE HAIL out of a thunderstorm cloud, and find out how it happens!
Hail forms in strong thunderstorms with powerful updrafts. That’s air that’s rapidly rising inside the growing thunderstorm. Water droplets within the thunderstorm cloud find their way into the updraft and move upward into the cold upper atmosphere where they freeze into ice.
As the ice particles collide with supercooled water droplets, they grow larger, eventually becoming so heavy that the updraft can no longer hold them. That’s when they fall to the ground as hailstones.
Most hailstones that fall in a strong to severe thunderstorm look something like this, averaging about the size of a quarter. Often meteorologists compare hailstones to common objects, as shown here.
But sometimes hailstones can grow much larger!
So how big can a hailstone get here? Niagara County observed a 4″ hailstone on September 27th, 1998. In fact, that is the largest hailstone in WNY on record, dating back to 1950.
The second largest hailstone in Western NY weather history, going back to 1950, fell in Genesee County. That stone was two inches in diameter, or about as big as a lime.
So we might not be in the heart of thunderstorm country in the Midwest and the South, but we do get our fair share of severe thunderstorms, and hail. And now you know how big our hail can get and how it forms!
Got a weather question that you’d like answered? E-mail me at weather@wkbw.com, and your weather question could be the subject of Josh’s Weather Academy.
