Hail Storm Trivia - Interesting facts and information about hail

• A hail storm is named such, due to the fact that during the storm, hail stones (or balls of ice) fall in huge quantities from the sky.
   
  
• The ice ball that falls down from the sky, during a hailstorm, is known as a “hail stone”. An average hail stone can have any diameter between 5 to 150 millimeters.
  
  
• Weather forecast agencies and departments, newspapers, TV channels and other media organizations, do not refer to the actual size of a hailstones in millimeters, while reporting the severity of a hailstorm. The objects of comparison that are often used are coins like cents, dimes or half dollars. Some other objects also include marbles, golf balls and peas.
  
  
• The hail storms are not exactly storms, but are a side effect of a much bigger storm, the thunderstorm. In fact, hail storms originate from thunderclouds.
  
  
• The hail originates from thunderclouds that are also known as Cumulonimbus clouds.
  
  
• The largest of all hail storms was recorded in Aurora, Nebraska, United States in 2003.
  
  
• Another very big hail storm occurred early in the 9th century, in Roopkund, India. It is supposed to be one of the earliest officially recorded hailstorms.
  
  
• In Colorado, United States, the citizens have a “hail storm season” that lasts from March to October every year.
  
  
• The median of the time span of a hail storm is about 6 minutes. Hailstorms rarely last for more than 15 minutes.
  
  
• Hail stones typically must have at least ¾ inch of diameter (quarter-size) to become severe, and cause a substantial amount of damage. Although if you are in the hail storm, it will certainly sound worse!
  
  
• Terminal velocity of hail varies by the diameter of the hail stone.  A hail stone measuring 0.39 inches (pea sized hail stone) in diameter falls at a rate of 20 mph while a hail stone measuring 3.10 inches (a baseball sized hail stone) in diameter falls at a rate of 110 mph.  Better get out of the way of that one!
  
  
• One of the largest hail stones on record fell in Vivian, South Dakota on July 23, 2010.  It measured 8 inches in diameter and weighed 1.93 pounds!