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Context

• A severe hailstorm recently wreaked havoc on crops and fruits in south Kashmir's Kulgam and Shopian districts.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast rain and snow in Jammu and Kashmir over the next two days.
• On Sunday, IMD said the weather remained mostly dry in most areas of J&K.

About Hail Storm

• Hail is a sort of solid rain that consists of ice balls or lumps.
• Hailstorms are storms that create hail that falls to the earth.
• They normally last no more than 15 minutes but can cause injuries and damage to buildings, vehicles, and other structures.
• They are most common in the midlatitudes.
• Hailstorms are sometimes accompanied by other types of extreme weather, such as cyclones and tornadoes.
• Hailstones range in size from microscopic pellets less than 1/4 inch in diameter to massive stones several inches in diameter.

Condition for Hail Storms to Occur

• The presence of well-developed Cumulonimbus clouds is required for hailstorms to occur.
• These are the gigantic anvil or mushroom-shaped clouds that can reach heights of 65,000 feet during thunderstorms.
• Strong air currents must be climbing through these clouds. These currents are frequently referred to as updrafts.
• High amounts of supercooled liquid water will be required in the clouds.

How does Hails from?

• It all starts with a water droplet being carried up by an updraft inside a thundercloud.
• Other supercooled water droplets already existing in the cloud will attach to the surface of the water droplet, producing layers of ice around it.
• As the water droplet ascends through the cloud, it comes into touch with an increasing number of supercooled particles.
• As it ascends higher in the updraft, the hail embryo grows larger and larger.
• Finally, it will grow to a size and weight that will cause gravity to operate on it and draw it down.
• Large hailstones are frequently distinguished by alternating layers of clear and opaque ice created by uneven freezing rates.

Favorable conditions for a hailstorm

Hail forms in the strong updraft region of a thunderstorm. Atmospheric conditions favorable for the formation hail bearing thunderstorms are:

• The high degree of instability,
• High moisture content,
• Low freezing level,
• High vertical wind shear.

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