Hailstorms

 Hailstorms

When the water droplets that were about to fall as rain pass through very cold layers of the atmosphere. This will freeze the water droplets, and when these fall to the ground, the phenomenon is known as a hailstorm which is another form of precipitation.Hail forms when a thunderstorm updraft lifts a water droplet above the freezing level in the atmosphere. The frozen water droplet then accretes super-cooled water or water vapor, which freezes once it comes in contact with the frozen droplet. This process causes a hailstone to grow.
Hailstorms may cause 4 injury to human beings, livestock, and can cause damage to standing crops. The probability of occurrence of hailstorms is highest in Maharashtra.

• India, with about 29 hail days of moderate to severe intensity per year, is among those countries in the world which experience a very high frequency of hail. 
• Hailstorms are mainly observed during the winter and pre-monsoon seasons with virtually no events after the onset of the southwest monsoon.
• Hailstorms are classified as
• Slight Hailstorm: If it is sparsely distributed, usually small in size and often mixed with rain.
• Moderate Hailstorm: If it is abundant enough to whiten the ground. 
• Strong Hailstorm: If it includes at least a proportion of large stones. 
• Hailstorms typically last for no more than 15 minutes but can cause injuries to people and damage buildings, vehicles and crops. 
• When hail builds up it can cause a loss of power, bring down trees and cause flash floods and mudslides in steep areas.
• Hailstorms occur frequently in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu-Kashmir Ladakh, Uttrakhand, Haryana, West Uttar Pradesh, and North Rajasthan
• Many States are severely affected by thunderstorms & lightning, squall, dust storms, hailstorm and strong winds during one or the other part of the year with varying frequency.
• A comprehensive preparedness, mitigation and response plan requires the involvement of government authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society.