Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How hailstones grow inside a storm
Supercooled droplets freeze onto ice that a storm updraft keeps suspended.
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From the opening
Hailstones grow when ice particles are held inside a thunderstorm and supercooled water freezes onto them. They stay up while the updraft can carry their weight, and they fall when they become too heavy for that rising air. The opening covers why droplets can be supercooled, how layers freeze onto the stone, and why summer air can still drop hail.
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Inside
- Why droplets can be supercooled
- How layers freeze onto the stone
- Why summer air can still drop hail
- How hail differs from sleet
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Accretion of supercooled droplets onto hail
- Thunderstorm updrafts that suspend growing stones