Fact of the Day Image Nov. 12th

What is hail? Well, hail is a type of frozen precipitation. Precipitation is part of the water cycle. Precipitation is when the liquid water falls to the ground. This happens when a cloud becomes heavy and all the water will fall to the ground.

Hail is when ice crystals get bigger and bigger as they make their way to Earth. Hail is large balls of ice falling to the ground.

Hail forms when frozen water droplets in clouds get bumped around and merge together to create bigger ice pieces. When a lot of them clump together, it creates hail! But, how does hail get so big, like the size of a volleyball? That happens because large gusts of wind upward, or updrafts, push the hailstones back up into the lower atmosphere where clouds form. That adds new layers of ice to the existing hailstone. That is what makes the hailstones larger!

Remember to come back to the “Fact of the Day” page for tomorrow’s fun fact!