Interesting Facts About Hailstones

By Super Admin

Thursday, May 26, 2011, 15:15

As a child I usually peeped from the glass window slyly to wait until mom sees the other side of the house to quickly run and collect these tiny icy jewels from sky (hailstones) in my pockets. For my innocent mind these were nothing but a strange gift from God. Well! These gifts can be very expensive and deadly sometimes. Want to know how? Read some interesting facts about hailstones during monsoon

Interesting facts

Around the 9th century, several hundred pilgrims were killed by a massive hailstorm in Roopkund, Uttarakhand, India.

In 1360, a hailstorm outside Paris killed hundreds of English soldiers leading King Edward III to give up his conquest of France.

In July 1953 in Alberta Canada, a large hail storm battered a five mile wide area killing more than 36,000 ducks and ducklings. After 4 days another hail storm passed the same area killing another 27,000 waterfowl. In July 1978, 200 sheep died when baseball sized hail assaulted them in Montana.

In April 1986, huge balls of ice fell from sky and crashed to ground in Gopalganj in Bangladesh. It was reported that they weighed nearly 1kg(2.2lbs) and must have been about the size of small honeydew melons. They killed 92 people.

On July 11, 1990 softball-sized hail destroyed roofs and cars, causing $625 million in total damage ($1 billion in damage adjusted to 2007 dollars) in Denver, Colorado, USA,

On September 7, 1991 a thunderstorm caused $400 million worth of insurable damage in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Thirteen additional hailstorms between 1981 and 1998 caused an estimated $600 million in damage in the Calgary area alone.

On May 18, 2000, McHenry, Lake, northern Kane, and northern Cook County, Illinois, USA, a damage was done worth $572 million due to hailstones. Golfball-, baseball-, and softball-sized hail damaged roofs, patio furniture, skylights, cars and windows in the area's worst and most widespread hailstorm in 30 years. Around 100,000 homes lost power. Hail was 3 inches deep in many areas. There were 100 canceled flights, and train service was disrupted.

Hail Alley a 625-square-mile area located near the meeting of the borders of Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. This area receives an average of 9 to 11 days of hail per year, more than any area in North America.

In June of 2003 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported a 7-inch diameter hailstone that fell in Aurora, Nebraska. It's circumference was recorded at 18.75 inches, beating out the 17.5 inch World Record which had been held by Coffeyville, Kansas since September 3, 1970. However, since hailstones challenging the world's record need to be sent to the Boulder, Colorado laboratory for verification, there's no telling how much weight, diameter or circumference was lost in transit.

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Article Published On: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 15:15 [IST]

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