Hail is an unusual natural phenomenon that can take you by surprise anywhere. Heavy hailstones are a real test of strength: they can cause harm to health, damage property, and cause crop failure. Fortunately, icy precipitation does not fall from the skies very often. Why does there hail? What causes it? The answers to these questions are in this article. 
What is hail 
Where does hail come from? The definition of this phenomenon can be found in the research of scientists. Ice balls falling from above are nothing more than a type of rainfall.
Hailstones can be of various sizes - from 1 millimeter to several centimeters. Large peas consist of alternating transparent and translucent layers of ice. Visually they are milky white.
This phenomenon occurs during thunderstorms and heavy downpours, mainly in the summer. Hail can be predicted by large cumulus clouds, which are usually ashen or dark gray in color with ragged edges in shades of white. The lower cloud often looks like a funnel, similar to the one that forms during tornadoes. Most often, hail precipitation lasts for a few minutes, but after it the ground can be covered with a layer of balls several centimeters deep.
Various shapes of hailstones 
Depending on external influences, hailstones may vary in shape, structure and color. The most common shape is cone-shaped: at the top the cone looks more like snow, in the middle there is translucent ice, at the base there is a transparent structure. You can often see a spherical shape: in the center of such formations there is usually a snow core surrounded by layers of ice. There are also rare forms of hailstones that look unusual: in the shape of a flower with petals, similar to spheres and crystals, parallelepipeds and plates.
This diversity is not a miracle of nature, but the effect on the ice formations of vertical air currents, as well as the number of their rises and falls in the layers of cumulus clouds.
How does hail form? 
Hail formation is a simple process based on the laws of physics. The clouds in which it forms are usually layered on top of each other: the lowest is closer to the Earth, the highest is several kilometers above its surface. When there is intense heat outside, water vapor, together with the heated air, begins to rise, gradually cooling. The updraft can be so strong that the steam particles are carried to a very high altitude, where they first cool greatly and then begin to turn into hailstones. For the formation of ice balls, two factors are needed: the rising wind speed must be at least 10 m/s, and the temperature must be at least 20-25 °C. Sometimes steam sticks to particles of dust, sand, soot, and bacteria that rise with the air flow. Colored inclusions look unusual: in such cases, the ice scattering takes on unusual shades.
If you cut a hailstone, you can count the number of layers. There will be exactly as many of them as the number of times the “pea” rises and falls in the middle of the clouds. The longer it stays in the air, the larger it will become. Along the way, a hailstone can collect snowflakes, and when it reaches the ground, it will acquire a decent mass. It happens that one such ball can weigh half a kilogram and have a diameter of 10 centimeters. Large hail is a real enemy, destroying everything in its path and causing enormous damage to the economies of all countries.
Many people ask the question “does it hail at night?” Meteorologists say that in the dark the probability of such precipitation is almost zero. Hail usually occurs during the daytime. This is due to the fact that at night the earth's surface cools and there is no opportunity to create strong air currents that could deliver steam to the upper atmosphere. Although there is evidence that hail can cover the ground at night. True, it will be small, and for it to occur you need a large thundercloud.
Is there hail in winter? The answer to this question is also negative. Freezing rain may occur at this time of year, but this is a completely different natural phenomenon and has nothing in common with the one in question. Winter rain in the form of ice balls is uniform and transparent, but hail can consist of several different structures.
How dangerous is hail?
Hail is an extremely dangerous phenomenon, the damaging factors of which will impress any skeptic. It appears very quickly, and in a matter of minutes it can destroy plants, destroy crops, and injure small animals and birds. Large ice balls can cause significant injuries to people who do not have time to find reliable shelter. The consequences of the disaster are damaged cars and houses. 
Streams of ice particles block the passage of vehicles, wash out roads, and can cause accidents. Damage to power lines is common. If hail is accompanied by a tornado and a tornado, a large-scale disaster cannot be avoided, the consequences of which require huge amounts of money to prevent.
Interesting Facts
There are many interesting facts about the city in history that can completely change the idea of this phenomenon:
An unusual hail event occurred in Kansas in 1970. Witnesses recall how a huge ball with a diameter of 40 centimeters and weighing about 800 g landed on the ground. The “guest” was stuffed with sharp spikes on all sides.
The largest hail was observed by residents of China in the spring of 1981. The weight of some ice objects was about seven kilograms. Five people died in the disaster and many buildings were destroyed.
Hail mixed with rain has a greenish tint. This is due to the reflection of the green color of the spectrum of sunlight by hailstones.
In tropical countries, ice flow occurs extremely rarely, and then only in high mountain areas. But in Northern India, people often suffer from the elements, and ice balls can reach 2.5 centimeters. To save the crop, it is necessary to protect it with special barriers.
In 1884, three types of stones were recorded falling in Sweden. And in 1892, in Bosnia, residents watched small fish fall from the sky along with pieces of ice.
To protect yourself from the consequences of the elements, sometimes it is enough to pay attention to the warning signs. The presence of gray cumulus clouds, the lower of which resembles a funnel, may indicate an approaching disaster. You should not ignore the signals of nature: it is better to go to a safe place in advance than to get seriously injured.
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