What the hail? - Animation Shows the Role of Updrafts

To help students understand how updrafts in a mature thunderstorm can cause hail to grow this large, show them THIS ANIMATION and then CLICK HERE for a detailed explanation.

Right: This hailstone is the largest ever verified in the USA: 8.0 inches in diameter, 18.5 inches in circumference, and 1.9375 pounds. It fell near Vivian, South Dakota in 2010. Lee Scott, who collected the stone, planned to make daiquiris out of the hailstone but decided to put in a freezer before taking it to the National Weather Service for certification (source: Weather Underground). CLICK HERE for more great hail trivia from Weather Underground, including an aerial photo of a town that received 18" of hail in one storm!

Also, CLICK HERE to see an impressive satellite view of the Hi-Line (north-central Montana) before and after a 2007 hail storm.

To view a convenient list of all the resources that have been posted on this "Earth Science Guy" blog site, CLICK HERE.

Below: Map courtesy of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety - CLICK HERE to see a larger version of the map.