What Is Hail? | How Hail Forms and Why It Falls from Thunderstorms

Learn what hail is, how it forms inside thunderstorms, and what makes it different from snow. A fun and educational guide to frozen weather for students.

🧭 Introduction

Have you ever seen ice balls fall from the sky during a storm? That's hail! Unlike snowflakes, which form gently in cold clouds, hailstones are chunks of ice formed during powerful thunderstorms. Hail can range in size from tiny pebbles to baseballs, and it can fall at high speeds-sometimes causing damage to cars, roofs, and crops. While it might be fun to watch from indoors, hail can be dangerous. Let's explore what hail is, how it forms, and why it only shows up in certain kinds of weather.

🧊 What Is Hail?

Hail is a type of precipitation that falls as balls or lumps of ice. It forms inside strong thunderstorm clouds, especially cumulonimbus clouds, which are tall, towering clouds full of energy.

Unlike snow or sleet, which form in cold weather, hail happens during warm-weather thunderstorms. That might sound strange, but inside the cloud, it's cold enough for ice to form, even when the air on the ground is warm.

🌩️ How Does Hail Form?

Hail forms high up inside thunderstorm clouds when strong winds, called updrafts, push rain upward into the very cold parts of the cloud. Here's what happens:

Raindrops are carried upward by powerful updrafts.
As they rise, they freeze into tiny balls of ice.
These frozen balls fall, pick up more water, and get pushed up again.
Each time they rise and fall, more layers of ice build up.
When the hailstone gets too heavy for the updraft to hold, it falls to the ground.

The stronger the updraft, the larger the hail can become!

🌨️ What Makes Hail Different from Other Frozen Precipitation?

Type	Forms in Cloud	Falls as Ice?	Needs Thunderstorm?
Snow	Yes	❄️ Snowflakes	No
Sleet	Yes	❄️ Tiny pellets	No
Hail	Yes	🧊 Hard ice balls	Yes (thunderstorm) ✅

Hail is the only kind of frozen precipitation that forms in strong thunderstorms, not just cold weather.

🧠 How Big Can Hail Get?

Hailstones come in many sizes:

Pea-sized (¼ inch)
Marble-sized (½ inch)
Golf ball-sized (1.75 inches)
Baseball-sized (2.75 inches)
Grapefruit-sized or even bigger!

The largest hailstone ever recorded in the U.S. fell in South Dakota in 2010. It was 8 inches wide and weighed nearly 2 pounds!

🌾 Why Is Hail Dangerous?

Hail can be damaging and dangerous, especially when it's large or falls with strong winds:

Breaks windows and dents cars
Destroys crops and plants
Injures people and animals caught outside
Damages roofs and buildings

That's why it's important to stay inside during a hailstorm and protect your head if you can't get to shelter.

🌍 Where and When Does Hail Occur?

Hail is most common in areas with strong thunderstorms, such as:

The Great Plains of the United States (known as "Hail Alley")
Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado
Mountain areas where rising air helps create thunderstorms

Hail usually falls in the spring and summer, when warm air and strong thunderstorms are most likely.

🧰 Hail Safety Tips

If a hailstorm is coming, go indoors immediately
Stay away from windows-hail can break glass
If you're in a car, pull over and cover your head
Never go outside to "catch hail"-even small stones can hurt
Protect pets and animals by bringing them indoors

📚 Vocabulary Words

Word	Definition
Hailstone	A ball or lump of ice that falls from a thunderstorm
Updraft	A strong upward wind in a storm cloud
Cumulonimbus	A tall, powerful thunderstorm cloud
Precipitation	Water that falls from the sky (rain, snow, hail, etc.)
Hail Alley	A region in the central U.S. known for frequent hailstorms

💡 Interesting Facts About Hail

Hailstones often have layers like an onion, formed each time they rise and fall in a cloud.
You can cut a hailstone open to see how many times it traveled inside the cloud!
Hail can fall at speeds over 100 miles per hour if large enough.
The costliest hailstorm in U.S. history happened in Texas in 2001, causing over $2 billion in damage.
Even spacecraft on other planets may be hit by hail-like ice from alien storms!

👧 Kid-Friendly Summary

Hail is ice that falls from the sky during big thunderstorms. It forms when raindrops are pushed high into cold clouds and freeze, then fall to the ground as hard balls of ice. Some hail is small, but some can be really big and dangerous! When there's hail, it's best to stay safe inside and watch from a window (away from the glass).