How and why hail is formed?

Hail or Hail (English: Hail) is a kind of solid precipitation, which is round or conical ice cubes and consists of alternating transparent and opaque layers. But why does hail form? The following is what I have compiled for you. I hope it will be useful to you.

Conditions for the formation of hail:

① There must be a fairly thick unstable layer in the atmosphere.

② Cumulonimbus clouds must develop to a temperature that can freeze individual large water droplets (the temperature is generally considered to be -12~-16℃).

③There must be strong wind shear.

④The vertical thickness of the cloud cannot be less than 6 to 8 kilometers.

⑤Cumulonimbus clouds are rich in water. Generally, it is 3 to 8 grams per cubic meter. There is an accumulation zone of liquid supercooled water above the maximum rising speed.

⑥There should be inclined, strong and uneven updrafts in the cloud, generally above 10 to 20 meters/second.

The formation process of hail:

The strong updraft in the hail cloud carries many large and small water droplets and ice crystals in motion, and some of the water droplets and ice crystals merge and freeze to form Larger ice particles, these particles and supercooled water droplets are transported to the moisture accumulation area by the updraft, and they can become hail cores. These initial growth cores of hail have good growth conditions in the moisture accumulation area. After the hail core is carried by the rising airflow into the growth zone, it collides with supercooled water droplets in an area with a large amount of water and a not too low temperature, and grows into a transparent layer of ice, and then moves upward into a low-temperature area with less water. Here it is mainly composed of It is composed of ice crystals, snowflakes and a small amount of supercooled water droplets. Hail nuclei stick to them and freeze to form an opaque ice layer. At this time, the hail has grown, and the updraft there is weak. When it cannot support the larger hail, the hail will fall in the updraft, and continue to merge with ice crystals, snowflakes and water droplets during the fall. When it falls to a higher temperature zone, the supercooled water droplets that collide with it form a transparent ice layer. If it falls into another stronger updraft area at this time, the hail will rise again and repeat the above-mentioned growth process. In this way, hailstones grow in one transparent layer and one opaque layer; due to differences in growth time, moisture content and other conditions, the thickness and other characteristics of each layer are also different. Finally, when the updrafts cannot support the hail, it falls from the clouds and becomes hail.

Hail hazards:

Hail disaster is a severe meteorological disaster caused by strong convective weather systems. Although its range is small and its duration is relatively short, its impact is It is fierce and intense, and is often accompanied by bursts of disastrous weather processes such as strong winds, heavy precipitation, and rapid cooling. China is a country where hail disasters occur frequently. Hail causes huge losses to agriculture, construction, communications, electricity, transportation, and people's lives and properties every year. According to relevant statistics, the economic losses caused by hail in China every year amount to hundreds of millions or even billions of yuan.

Many people have encountered hailstones during thunderstorms, usually no larger than a softball, falling from storm clouds. However, sometimes hailstones can be quite large, with 80-pound hailstones falling from the sky. When they hit the ground, they break into many small pieces. The most mysterious thing is that huge hailstones fall vertically from the sky in a cloudless sky. Many incidents have confirmed that aircraft wings were hit by hailstones. Scientists still cannot explain why such huge hailstones appear.

Hail disaster record:

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, was hit by the strongest storm in 30 years. Strong winds and hail caused at least 39 injuries, and planes and helicopters were overturned. A large number of building windows were shattered, as many as 90,000 households were without power, and the damage was estimated to be A$100 million.

On the evening of May 6, 2015, Luoyang City, Henan Province was suddenly hit by hail, accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds. Judging from the pictures posted by netizens, the hail was as big as an egg. Due to the hail? attack?, it was not The windows of many cars parked on the roadside were smashed and their bodies were damaged to varying degrees.

In the early morning of June 11, 2015, hail hit the central and eastern part of Liulihe Town, Fangshan District, Beijing.

The village was severely affected, and farmland, fruit trees, vegetables, etc. were damaged. Among them, Lucun, Beibai, Nanbai and Shicun suffered more severe disasters. Lucun's apricot and grape harvests were almost extinct. Fortunately, no one was injured. Yesterday, the Fangshan District Government’s official Weibo posted news that after preliminary understanding of the disaster, relevant departments of Liulihe Town rushed to the affected villages to check the situation. At present, disaster statistics and agricultural insurance accident work are in progress. The fruit trees on site are almost dead.

On July 20, 2015, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, and Hengshan County of Yulin City encountered extreme hailstorm weather. The hail occurred from 15:10 to 15:45 that afternoon and lasted for more than half an hour. Most of the hailstones were as big as quail eggs, and some were as big as chicken eggs, causing heavy losses to local crops. Crops and cash crops such as corn, beans, buckwheat, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, and pears were severely damaged.

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