Hail can vary in size within the same storm due to differences in atmospheric conditions encountered by suspended water droplets. Conditions such as temperature, humidity, and updrafts can influence the growth of hailstones, resulting in different sizes.
Initial water droplets in a hail cloud can be of different sizes and shapes due to natural variations in the atmosphere. These differences can result from the concentration of ice particles around which water droplets form. Clouds can contain particles of different sizes and structures, which influence the initial shape of water droplets that will later become hailstones. These initial variations can therefore lead to a diversity of hailstone sizes in the same storm.
Atmospheric conditions vary in different parts of a hail cloud. Indeed, temperature, humidity, and air movements can vary from one region to another. These disparities affect the formation and growth of hailstones.
Temperature: Temperature variations inside a hail cloud are crucial. Colder conditions favor the formation of larger hailstones. Conversely, warmer areas can lead to partial or total fusion of hailstones, thus altering their size.
Humidity: The relative humidity of the air can also differ in different regions of the cloud. High humidity promotes the growth of hailstones, while lower humidity can cause them to partially evaporate, affecting their final size.
Air movements: Updrafts and downdrafts within the cloud determine the trajectories of hailstones. Hailstones can be transported to areas with different atmospheric conditions, influencing their growth and size.
In conclusion, the varied atmospheric conditions inside a hail cloud are a second reason explaining the diversity of hailstone sizes observed during the same storm.
Water drops develop into hailstones of varying sizes due to differences in their trajectories and growth rates. During a hailstorm, water drops may be exposed to distinct atmospheric conditions depending on their position within the cloud. Some drops may be subject to stronger updrafts, keeping them suspended longer and allowing them to grow in size. Other drops may fall more quickly towards warmer areas of the cloud, where they partially melt before refreezing into smaller hailstones. These variations in trajectory and growth rate contribute to the diversity of hailstone sizes observed on the ground following a storm.
The record for the largest hailstone ever recorded goes to a 1 kilogram ice stone that fell in 2010 in the town of Vivian, South Dakota, in the United States.
The size of hailstones can vary from a few millimeters to over 15 centimeters in diameter, depending on the weather conditions and trajectories within the clouds.
The formation of hailstones requires supercooled water droplets that freeze around a condensation nucleus at high altitudes, thus forming ice crystals.
The initial sizes and shapes of water droplets, atmospheric conditions, and growth trajectories play a major role.
Hailstones form when small water droplets encounter atmospheric conditions favorable for their solidification into ice.
The variations in size of hailstones can be due to differences in growth rate and the trajectories they follow through the cloud.
Temperature, humidity, and vertical and horizontal movements within clouds can all play a role in the formation and growth of hailstones.
Scientists use remote sensing instruments and weather balloons to collect data on atmospheric conditions inside clouds during hailstorms.
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