Hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Unlike graupel, which is made of rime, and ice pellets, which are smaller and translucent, hail stones – on Earth – consist mostly of water ice and measure between 5 and 200 millimetres (0.20 and 7.9 in) in diameter. The METAR reporting code for hail 5 mm (0.20 in) or greater is GR, while smaller hailstones and graupel are coded GS. Hail is possible within most thunderstorms as it is produced by cumulonimbi (thunderclouds), and within 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) of the parent storm. Hail formation requires environments of strong, upward motion of air with the parent thunderstorm (similar to tornadoes) and lowered heights of the freezing level. In the mid-latitudes, hail forms near the interiors of continents, while in the tropics, it tends to be confined to high elevations.
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Famous quotes containing the word hail:
“Beware the dead. And hail them. They teach you drunkenness.
You have your own place to drink. Hail and beware them, when they come.”
—Charles Olson (1910–1970)
“But hail thou Goddess, sage and holy,
Hail divinest Melancholy,
Whose saintly visage is too bright
To hit the sense of human sight,
And therefore to our weaker view
O’erlaid with black, staid Wisdom’s hue;”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“... such is the horrible idea that I entertain respecting a life of servitude, that if I conceived of there being no possibility of my rising above the condition of servant, I would gladly hail death as a welcome messenger.”
—Maria Stewart (1803–1879)