Giant hailstones - how big can they get ?

[UM-Bot]

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/images/newsitems/hailstones.jpg

Gigantic hailstones are one of the most unusual and destructive forms of weather. Causing damage to roofs, cars and posing a risk to anyone caught walking around showers of hailstones as large as baseballs have been recorded throughout history in various parts of the world.

"With chunks of ice -- sometimes very large -- falling out of the sky during a warm-weather season, hail is one of the most unusual, and destructive, types of weather. Hail is common in the U. S. , especially in and near "Tornado Alley," but large hail occurs frequently in Europe as well. "

View: Full Article | Source: AOL News

[cluey]

They can come the size of a baseball here......does that help????

[RaZoR_ninja]

Wow, imagine getting hit on the head by one of those

I'm happy hailstones in England are never bigger than the size of a pea.

Edited June 17, 2010 by RaZoR_ninja

[Mac E]

I've never seen them bigger then golf ball sized aroung here.

[+HerNibs]

They get pretty big around here. I've had them smash through our porch roof.

Nibs

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Just had our first hailstorm i can remember in years, i took some video of it but i couldn't help but drop a couple F bomb's in it so i won't post it

[+DieChecker]

We usually don't get very big hail, but sometimes a lot of it shows up and it covers the ground like snow. I've only seen that happen a couple times in 40 years though.

[nognome]

what i wanna know is are they bigger whilst in the clouds and get smaller and smaller as they fall, OR do they collect rain and grow in size as they plummet to the ground?

[Oen Anderson]

I'm a little disapointed they didn't say how big hail stones can get. It takes an updraft on the front of the storm system of 60 miles an hour to make a hail stone the size of a golf ball. It takes an updraft of 100 miles an hour to make one the size of a baseball and a 110 mph updraft to make one the size of a softball. A couple years ago hail stones fell in China the size of basketballs and the following year basketball size hail fell in Colorado. That takes an updraft of 300 mph which means the jet stream was at work in the really big ones and they don't get any bigger than that because of the physics.

[Orkid]

the last hail storm we had here... they were as a big as an egg.. chicken egg

[ships-cat]

Pfft.. wimps.

Ours are the size of Volkswagens.

(mind you.. being fuel-efficient europeans.. our Volkswagens are only the size of basketballs)

(Oh... and our basketballs are only the size of golf balls)

meow purr

[Father Of Evolution]

Wow, how cold is it up there? :w00t:

Edited June 26, 2010 by Father Of Evolution

[pallidin]

I'm a little disapointed they didn't say how big hail stones can get. It takes an updraft on the front of the storm system of 60 miles an hour to make a hail stone the size of a golf ball. It takes an updraft of 100 miles an hour to make one the size of a baseball and a 110 mph updraft to make one the size of a softball. A couple years ago hail stones fell in China the size of basketballs and the following year basketball size hail fell in Colorado. That takes an updraft of 300 mph which means the jet stream was at work in the really big ones and they don't get any bigger than that because of the physics.

Are you sure about that? Never heard of basketball size hail.

The article says:

"For the record, the largest hailstone in the world fell in Aurora, Neb., on June 22, 2003. It was larger than a softball (7 inches in diameter)."