Hail Facts for Kids

1. Hail is frozen precipitation that has a diameter greater than .20 inches (5 millimeters).
2. Hail is produced during thunderstorms in cumulonimbus clouds.
3. Hail is created when a thunderstorm has an updraft that carries rain droplets up into the extremely cold areas of the atmosphere.
4. Hailstones can fall at speeds of 9 mph (14 km/h), all the way up to 110 mph (177 km/h), generally the larger the hailstones the faster they fall.
5. Large hail sometimes precedes a tornado since the conditions to produce large hail are the same to produce a tornado. However, tornadoes can and do form without any hail being present.
6. An area in the United States known as hail alley is where hailstorms are most common.
7. The area where Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming meet is widely considered hail alley.
8. Damage from hailstorms can reach billions of dollars.
9. A hailstorm that hit St. Louis, Missouri on April 28th, 2012 caused $1.6 billion in damages.
10. A hailstorm that hit the Denver Metro area on May 8th, 2017 caused $2.3 billion in damages.
11. A hail cannon is a device used to create a shockwave that attempts to disrupt the formation of hailstones. There is no scientific evidence that proves these are effective at disrupting the formation of hail.
12. Kericho, Kenya in Africa experiences more hailstorms than any other city in the world. They have an average of 50 days of hail per year.
13. The world record for the heaviest hailstone was set on April 14th, 1986 in Bangladesh (Gopalganj District), weighing 2.25 pounds (1.02 kilograms).
14. The world record for the hailstone with the largest diameter was set on July 23rd, 2010 in Vivian, South Dakota. Its diameter was 7.9 inches (20 centimeters), with a circumference of 18.622 inches (47.3 centimeters).
15. The world record for a hailstone with the largest circumference was set on June 22nd, 2003 in Aurora, Nebraska. Its circumference was 18.622 inches (47.6 centimeters), with a diameter was 7.0 inches (17.8 centimeters).

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