Categories Severe Weather Theory Imagine a melon-sized chunk of ice falling out of the sky and punching a hole in your windshield Hail is one of the most significant hazards with severe thunderstorms – while it is usually small and relatively harmless it may grow to tennis ball-sized or even larger Hail or hailstone forms as supercooled water droplets within a thunderstorm updraft begin freezing onto a condensation nucleus The supercooled droplets have a temperature below freezing (0 °C or 32 °F) As they come into contact with the growing hailstone The growing hailstone is kept in the air by the storm’s updraft until it grows too big and heavy for the upward wind to keep it aloft Some hailstones form and grow by many smaller hailstones sticking and freezing together into a large hailstone – such form is called an agglomerate The largest hailstones sometimes even form long icy horns or spikes The most severe hailstorms and largest hail are usually associated with supercell thunderstorms and dry mid-levels for massive hail to form But just how big and heavy can hailstones grow Researchers investigating the 2018 storm found that one of the hailstones had a diameter between 7.4 inches (18.8 cm) and 9.3 inches (23.6 cm) across This diameter may approach or even exceed the official world record for the biggest hail – recorded in Vivian The hailstones were so large that scientists suggested a new category to describe them — a gargantuan hail this so-called ‘gargantuan’ hailstone that fell in Argentina may beat the world record But these reports have not yet been officially confirmed According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the world record for the largest hailstone is an 8-inch (20.3 cm) hailstone that fell near Vivian The hailstone had a circumference of 18.625 inches (47.3 cm) and a weight of 1.9375 pounds (0.88 kg) It produced an impact pit about 10 inches (25 cm) across the ground with the record-breaking hailstone found in Azzano Decimo The hailstorm hit the town at 11 pm local time and destroyed hundreds of cars and roofs severe hailstorms affected part of northeast Italy Hailstones with a more than 10 cm diameter were reported 24 times on this day: 2 times in Croatia and 22 times in Italy The largest hailstone fell in Carmignano di Brenta Several other locations reported giant hailstones An 18.75-inch (47.6 cm) circumference hailstone was recorded on June 22nd The hailstone was 7.0 inches (17.8 cm) in diameter but no weight was officially recorded as it partially broke off as it hit the roof of a house the hail that hit Hamilton County (including Aurora) produced impact pits up to 14.1 inches (36 cm) across the ground the record is held by a hefty 2.1 pound (0.97 kg) hailstone that fell in Strasbourg the deadliest hailstorm in modern history hit Moradabad and Beheri districts in Uttar Pradesh with hailstones as large as “goose eggs according to the World Meteorological Organization The hailstones were reportedly as big as oranges and Check some more interesting articles on the hail records: La Niña boosts the Polar cold over North America but an El Niño now appears on the Horizon in long-range predictions RSS Feed Any time.” © Severe Weather Europe 2023