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Hail & Hailstorms

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Anonymous

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Chinese Hail

From the BBC:

'Freak hail stones the size of eggs have killed 22 people and injured 200 in China's central Henan province, local media reports say.

Trees were uprooted, vehicles damaged and power supplies disrupted by winds gusting up to over 70 km/h in the central province of Henan.

Most of the deaths came when buildings in the northern town of Zhengzhou collapsed, including a petrol station.'
 
I saw that on the news today. They had no warning apparently, so no one could prepare for it. Very sad. :(
 
Sad indeed. In themselves, though, giant hail-stones are not ultra-rare.

When I lived in Southport, we experienced a fall of huge hail, the largest
were about the size of hen's eggs. My brother kept one in his freezer
for some time after. This would be in the late seventies, I guess. A
skylight pane was broken in our house but the damage was rather
less than we would have expected from the size of the things.

I don't recall hearing that anyone had been injured. :rolleyes:
 
Apparently (BBC News) so many were killed in China because houses were caused to collapse because of the weight of the hailstones. There is to be an investigation into building practices.
 
Meanderer said:
Apparently (BBC News) so many were killed in China because houses were caused to collapse because of the weight of the hailstones. There is to be an investigation into building practices.
I was going to try to be ironic about the idea of Chinese building standards, but I thought better of it. I'll simply say that the reason (or one of them, at least) that Chinese houses aren't built to take this kind of treatment is that they're trying to house so many people. I strongly suspect that, despite any recommendations to the contrary, that there will be little improvement.

Not that this is unique to China: given the recent experience I've had during the construction of the new building at work (dealing with both sub-contractors and the project managers), I seriously doubt that similar recommendations would get anything more than lip-service in this country.

Of course another reason is that no-one thinks to plan for hailstones that big. With the amount of damage done during a heavy hailstorm in Sydney (in 1999), no-one's really planning for it here either.
 
as it was hailing yesterday (sunday). i thought, has there ever been coloured opake "hailstone" falls at all? (other than white)

also what about the single large "hailstones" that have fallen?
have any opake coloured (but not white/clear) ones been found?

last one (honest) :)

have any insects/birds been found incased in these large "hailstones"?
 
Don't pop any of the blue, yellow or brown ones into your gin and tonic Melf :D
 
coloured hail

Melf Melf Melf Meeeeeeeeeeeeelf!

You may be onto something here! Yellow rains, red rains, rains of frogs the data's all out there. Snow falls of green, pink, yellow and blue; all witnessed and recorded. But falls of coloured hail, I just can't find it! It must be out there, must'nt it?

The closest I can find is a single fall of black hail that fell in England 26 April 1884 recorded by Fort in New Lands, "Black hail fell at Chaigley several miles from Liverpool".

There are falls of hail as big as pluvers eggs, conglomerates of hail, hail rollers, hails inscribed with religious motifs, long thin stick hail, hailstones containing frogs and stones, hail falls from clear blue skies and so on.

So where are the falls of coloured hail!?
 
Wasn't there a hail of blood (presumably red) when Richard I was building Chateau Gaillard?
 
There was an article about very strangely patterened and colored hailstones in a very old copy of Fate magazine. Old as in 1960something. I'll see if I have the copy, I have a few of them.
 
Hailstones 'as big as eggs' kill 18

Hailstones 'as big as eggs' kill 18

A hailstorm in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality has left 18 dead, one person missing and 25 injured, the People's Daily reported yesterday.

The biggest hailstorm, which fell in Chongqing, reached 13 centimetres in diameter, according to local reports.

Chongqing's eight districts also experienced gales and 140 millimetres of rainfall in last Friday's storm.

According to the municipal Office of Disaster and Social Relief, about 458,000 residents in 80 counties and towns in Chongqing were hit by bad weather, leaving five dead and 25 injured.

It is estimated that 140 million yuan (US$17 million) of damage was caused.

Qianjiang District in Chongqing was the worst affected, with hailstones destroying more than 27,800 houses and local crops. In this district alone, there was damage worth 35 million yuan (US$4.2 million).

Many cities in Sichuan were also affected by strong winds and heavy rainfall. Some cities, such as Leshan, Dazhou and Yibin, were also hit by hailstorms.

Thirteen people died in the province.

Ye Sheng, deputy director of Gaoxian County's Party committee in Yibin, said he witnessed a hailstorm that lasted for about one-and-a-half hours on Friday.

He said some hailstones were as big as eggs, and even small ones were the size of peas. "Many houses were pierced by the hail. It is the most serious hailstorm for 20 years in the county," he was quoted by People's Daily as saying.

A large band of rising warm air resulted in the wind, rain and hail, the Provincial Office of Disaster and Social Relief said.

Measures have been taken to counter the hailstorm, including cloud seeding. In Chongqing alone, some 2,100 rounds have been launched to force hail to change into rain.

Sichuan Province has set up a special disaster and social relief group to guide the work, comfort affected residents, help them reconstruct their homes to get their lives back to normal.

Areas in Hubei Province adjoining Sichuan also experienced similar weather, injuring 15 people.

Last week, many regions in China were hit by sudden changes of weather.

Areas in North China and Northwest China experienced sudden drops in temperature.

In Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the temperature slumped to 1 C below zero on Thursday from 26 C above the day before.

And in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the temperature dropped by 17 degrees between Wednesday and Thursday.

The region also had its most serious dust storm this spring on Friday.
 
I was hoping the guy would get hail on his head to stop him saying wow. :)
 
...and the first guy couldn't think of anything else to say but "Oh my God - I've never seen anything likethis" over and over!

Having said that, I can't blame him. That was ridiculously heavy hail - the swimming pool seemed to be boiling for a while. Only 4 days ago, too. I bet the Oklahoma City insurance companies have been busy these last few days - "What's that, sir? Your car windshield got smashed by hail? You don't say..."
 
Santa Rosa, New Mexico, July 3rd.

It's not snow.

HotHail_zps7a9db473.jpg


More than a foot of hail. They had to get out the snow plows.
 
And now Falmouth hits the national headlines!

Freak hail storm brings winter scenes to Falmouth

A freak hail storm has left part of Falmouth in Cornwall looking like a winter's scene.

PE teacher Tommy Matthews, 52, of The Gluyas arrived home from work to find an inch of hail covering the street.
Neighbours' garages were flooded and manholes burst as the hail turned into a stream of water.

The hail storm, which left cars sliding on roads, occurred at about 17:00 BST after a Met Office warning of heavy rain in the South West overnight.

"I was walking up the street and it suddenly all went nuts," said Mr Matthews.
"My drive is still covered in hail.
"It went on for about 20 minutes. Just when I thought it was over, it came down harder and harder."
He said the hail was confined to within about a quarter of a mile radius of his home.

Patricia Minson, who lives nearby at Boslowick Road, said: "There was a thunder clap and the sky opened up.
"There were about 10 cars stuck on the hill.
"I've never seen anything like this."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-23997585

Yep, it hit here too. The 'thunderclap' set off our building fire alarms (again). And the hail looked just like snow - when I went to the pub shortly after, I said "Merry Christmas!" to the barmaid!
I've taken photos, but they're still in the camera. There was minor flooding around our building, and water came under one of the entrance doors.

It was certainly something - possibly the heaviest hail I've ever experienced, It had me wondering how many tons of ice had fallen from the sky.
 
This is pretty impressive!

Freak hail storm hits beach goers
Sunbathers in the Russian city of Novosibrisk were forced to run for cover when a sudden temperature drop from 41 to 22 degrees celsius caused a large hail storm
[Video: not superb quality, but watch full-screen for maximum impact.]
12:58PM BST 13 Jul 2014

Visitors to a beach in Novosibirsk, Russia, were caught by surprise when a sudden storm swept in, dropping hail stones the size of golf balls.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, a sunbather captured the transition from 41 degree heat to a raging hail storm - all in a matter of minutes.
Some people can be seen screaming and running for the cover of beach umbrellas as the hail storm intensifies, while some chose to stay in the water and one brave person sheltered under their beach towel.

Two minutes in to the video, a girl can be heard saying: “If we’re going to die, I love you”.
Fortunately, it appears no one was injured despite the size of the hail stones and the lack of shelter.

However local media have reported that the storm caused the deaths of two three-year-old twins when a tree collapsed on the tent there were in. Another four-year-old child who was sharing the tent is also in intensive care.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weath ... goers.html

I think the sub-heading is back to front - it would have been the hail storm that caused the drop in temperature, as the hail brought the freezing temperatures at the cloud-tops down to ground level.
 
I didn't realize that Novosibirsk (deep within Siberia) had beachfront property :?: :p
 
:shock: That was incredible!! I can understand that girl thinking that maybe "end times are here"...
 
Alice Springs hail: Red Centre turns white as storm damages buildings, powerlines

Wild hail storms have flooded parts of Alice Springs and forced the closure of some roads in the town.

Parts of the Red Centre were turned white, as the hail began falling about 4:00pm yesterday.

View image on Twitter
ClIns8mUsAMsK0Z.jpg:small


Follow
Claire Ryan @claireryan91

Um where do we live again? The snow or the bush .....?!#NTAustralia #AliceSprings

8:03 AM - 17 Jun 2016

There were reports of tree branches bringing down powerlines and extensive water damage to buildings, including the Alice Springs Hospital.

Clare Barker from NT Emergency Services said they were not expecting the hail storm to be so intense.

"The most important thing is that the public get behind us here and be prepared," Ms Barker said.

"Make sure that if you've got power that you've got some way of having some food tonight, make sure that you're taking cover, that your children, your family and your pets are safe."

The Bureau of Meteorology's Craig Earl-Spurr said two storms in quick succession dumped about 38 millimetres of rain in Alice Springs.

"If it [Alice Springs] does get thunderstorms it is about this time of the year, and there is a risk of hail," Mr Earl-Spurr said.


PHOTO It is not often a "snowman" can be made in Alice Springs.
ABC ALICE SPRINGS FACEBOOK
...

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-...l-is-falls-on-alice/7521932?WT.mc_id=newsmail
 
This 19th century article:

Schwedoff, T., 1882: On the origin of hail. Symon's Mon. Meteor. Mag.,17, 151.

... is cited as having stated hailstones have been known to exhibit rose or blue coloring.

SOURCE:
Nancy C. Knight and Charles A. Knight Some Observations on Foreign Material in Hailstones, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 59, no. 3, March 1978.

https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/1520-0477(1978)059<0282:SOOFMI>2.0.CO;2

Schwedoff's article (in English translation) can be accessed at Google Books:

https://books.google.com/books?id=S...Q6AEwBXoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=Schwedoff&f=false
 
An article entitled 'Remarkable Hailstorms' appeared in Chambers's' Journal, November 24, 1894, pp. 741 ff.

It mentions hailstones fallen near Castlewellan in Ireland which were "decidedly red" throughout. It also mentions hailstones fallen in Minsk on 14 June 1880 that were pale red and pale blue. The Minsk examples are probably the ones to which Schwedoff referred.

The article can be accessed via Google Books:

https://books.google.com/books?id=EVBTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA741&lpg=PA741&dq=hailstones color OR colored OR coloured -halibut&source=bl&ots=SgI7juCh2p&sig=vItYxOWy-zAbGwUQvUdXkrbLPt8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi0kJ_pltzdAhUKOq0KHd3aA7kQ6AEwHnoECCQQAQ#v=onepage&q=hailstones color OR colored OR coloured -halibut&f=false
 
Last edited:
Eggstraordinary sized hailstones.

Monster hailstones 'the size of EGGS' rain down on a Chinese city and destroy homes during a freak thunderstorm

  • A severe hailstorm hit the city of Chengde in Hebei, north China last night
  • Massive chunks of ice hammered the city, destroying homes, roofs and trees
  • The biggest hailstones measured the size of eggs, the local weather bureau said
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...understorm.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline
 
A 2018 hailstorm in Argentina produced some record-challenging hailstones.
Scientists Report Terrifying Ice Lumps That Could Be The Largest Hailstones Recorded

The hailstone is so massive it even stunned meteorologists.

"It's incredible," said meteorologist Matthew Kumjian from Penn State University in the US. "This is the extreme upper end of what you'd expect from hail."

The hefty ice lump smashed down from a supercell thunderstorm in Argentina two years ago, in the heavily populated town Villa Carlos Paz. In a recently published study, Kumjian and colleagues have concluded the hailstone is possibly the largest ever recorded - estimated to be up to 23.7 centimetres (over 9 inches). ...

Another hailstone from the same storm, recorded by local Victoria Druetta, came in at 18 centimetres (7.1 inches), after she saw chunks of it smash off during the impact of its landing. ...
FULL STORY (With Photos & Video):
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-megachonker-of-a-hail-stone-may-have-smashed-size-records
 
Is "megachonker" a technical term?

And that's not a hailstone, that's a hailrock.
 
Is "megachonker" a technical term?

"Chonk" is a slang term alluding to fat cats, the cat's state or degree of obesity, or simply feline obesity.

A "chonker" is a fat cat. Some folks call their notably fat cats "megachonkers."
 
Well, you learn something new every day, thanks. Maybe the URL author is a cat person, because I see no link to hailstones.
 
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