HAIL

In news:

• Untimely widespread rain accompanied by hailstorm and strong winds have flattened wheat crop over large areas in Punjab.

About Hail

• Hail is a type of precipitation, or water in the atmosphere.
• Hail is formed when drops of water freeze together in the cold upper regions of thunderstorm clouds.
• These chunks of ice are called hailstones.
• Most hailstones measure between 5 millimeters and 15 centimeters in diameter, and can be round or jagged.
• Hailstones are not frozen raindrops. Frozen rain falls as water and freezes as it nears the ground. Hail actually falls as a solid.

Formation of Hailstone

• Hailstones are formed by layers of water attaching and freezing in a large cloud.
• A frozen droplet begins to fall from a cloud during a storm, but is pushed back up into the cloud by a strong updraft of wind.
• When the hailstone is lifted, it hits liquid water droplets.
• Those droplets then freeze to the hailstone, adding another layer to it.
• The hailstone eventually falls to Earth when it becomes too heavy to remain in the cloud, or when the updraft stops or slows down.
• Hailstones can cause extreme damage to buildings, vehicles, and crops.

PRELIMS QUESTION:

Q. Which of the following is/are solid forms of precipitation?

1. Hail

2. Snow

3. Graupel

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

a. 1 and 2 only

b. 2 and 3 only

c. 1 and 3 only

d. 1,2 and 3

Answer to Prelims question