How Does Hail Form? From Ice Nucleus to Severe Storm | RainViewer Blog

TL;DR: A fist-sized hailstone is not a by-product of an ordinary thunderstorm, it needs one specific combination of updraft strength and cloud depth. A hailstone grows by riding up and down inside the updraft, adding another layer of ice on each pass Fist-sized hail needs updrafts often above 150 km/h (93 mph), which only well-organised supercells produce Northern Italy and southern Germany offer ideal late-summer conditions through Mediterranean heat and Alpine lift The heaviest hail falls in a narrow hail corridor, which is why towns a few kilometres apart have completely different experienc