Massive hail in North Carolina: How it happened
Large hail reported in North Carolina this week
As soon as available. This week also saw a period of active weather that produced severe thunderstorms and large hail across the Carolinas. Some of the largest stones fell in western North Carolina. Meteorologist Dylan Hudler details how hail forms and what makes some pieces so large. A powerful supercell thunderstorm moved through the western North Carolina Mountains Wednesday, dumping heavy hail in the Asheville area. This is a photo from Bernardville in Buncombe County, just north of Asheville. Forrest's Tanio took a photo of a hailstone nearly 3 inches in diameter. This ended up being one of the largest hailstorms on record in western North Carolina. Imagine the sound of hundreds of people slamming into the roof of your house. Hail this large can cause significant damage to homes and cars, but hail this large is rare here in North Carolina. Mainly pea, marble and nickel sized hail. Although fairly strong, large hail requires strong thunderstorm updrafts to produce this. So it all starts with a thunderstorm and the warm, humid air sucked into it. As the wind flies upwards as it is carried higher into the sky, it engulfs tiny water droplets, making the top of the cloud inside a thunderstorm very cold, well below freezing. The water droplets freeze into small ice balls. Well, as other water droplets are caught in the storm, they collect on top of the previous hailstone and get bigger and bigger. Something like a snowball. If you roll it on the ground. Now, those winds and thunderstorm updrafts can only support so much weight. They're just so fast. As that hail collects more water, freezes, and grows larger and larger, the thunderstorm's updrafts can no longer keep the hail within the storm. And if it gets too heavy, it will fall out. At that moment, hail falls from a severe thunderstorm. It is important to always seek shelter indoors during severe thunderstorm warnings. The last thing you want is to get caught outside when baseball-sized balls of ice start raining from the sky.
Massive hail in North Carolina: How it happened
Large hail reported in North Carolina this week
A powerful supercell thunderstorm moved through the western mountains of North Carolina on Wednesday, dumping heavy hail in the Asheville area. This photo is from Bernardsville, Buncombe County, north of Asheville. Forrest Tainio took a photo of the hail, which was about 3 inches in diameter. This was one of the largest hailstorms ever recorded in western North Carolina. Imagine the sound of hundreds of hailstones hitting the roof of your house. Although hail this large can cause significant damage to homes and cars, hail this large is extremely rare, especially in North Carolina. In most cases, peas produce nickel-sized hail. How Hail Forms Hail requires strong thunderstorm updrafts (rapidly rising updrafts within a storm). Updrafts carry water droplets upward into the storm. Water droplets freeze due to high temperatures. Storm clouds form and form small hailstones. Hailstones are suspended in clouds by updrafts and grow larger as other water droplets freeze on top of the existing stones. As the hail stone grows larger, it becomes heavier and cannot stop the updraft. Hail falls on the ground. If a severe thunderstorm warning is in effect, always remember to seek shelter indoors. The last thing you want to do is have ice balls the size of baseballs raining down from the sky outside.
A powerful supercell thunderstorm moved through the mountains of western North Carolina on Wednesday, dumping heavy hail in the Asheville area.
This photo is from Bernardsville in Buncombe County, north of Asheville. Forrest Tainio took a photo of the hail, which was about 3 inches in diameter. This was one of the largest hailstorms ever recorded in western North Carolina. Imagine hundreds of sounds slamming against the roof of your house.
Hail this large can cause significant damage to homes and cars, but hail this large is extremely rare, especially in North Carolina. In most cases, pea-sized to nickel-sized hail falls.
How hail occurs
- Requires strong thunderstorm updrafts (rapidly rising air within the storm).
- Updrafts carry water droplets upward into the storm.
- The high temperatures in storm clouds freeze water droplets and form small hailstones.
- Hailstones are suspended in clouds by updrafts and grow larger as other water droplets freeze on top of the existing stones.
- As a hailstone grows, it becomes heavier and cannot be held in the cloud by updrafts.
- Hail falls on the ground.
If a severe thunderstorm warning is issued, be sure to seek shelter indoors. The last thing you want to do is have baseball-sized ice balls raining down from the sky outside.