April 14, 2015
The Midwest has had some nasty weather over the past few weeks, including some strange precipitation.
Amid tornadoes and thunderstorms, several states reported hail that got as big as 2 inches in diameter, according to the Weather Channel.
And in some parts the hail took on interesting shapes.
Some bizarre-looking hail that has been coming down in the Midwest over the past few days. pic.twitter.com/IC09smGSA0
— Tech Craves (@Tech_Craves) April 10, 2015
This is the hail that was falling in parts of the midwest. http://t.co/5l74G0Mt6d pic.twitter.com/XckVeTiqRP
— Northwest Herald (@nwherald) April 10, 2015
Baseball-sized hail pummels Midwest: Updates on #TodayinLA http://t.co/5R2XJzVEhs pic.twitter.com/0M73Y2qaTT
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) April 9, 2015
Huge hail storm in Franklin county tonight. Huge. Keep up with #ncwx at 10 @FOX50WRAZ & 11 #wral pic.twitter.com/Hxr8h3uNmP
— Julia Sims (@WRALJulia) April 9, 2015
Wired spoke to Conrad Ziegler of the National Severe Storms Laboratory to try and explain why the hail got so big and took on so many different forms. The hailstones' size, Ziegler explains, may be a product of the supercell storms that have been hitting the region. Those storms produce more intense winds. The more time hailstones spend spinning in the clouds, the more ice they collect and the larger they get.
In regards to the weird shapes, Ziegler told Wired that it's all about what happens in the clouds:
"Every stone takes a different path through the cloud,” says Ziegler. Often, storm winds will push stones around and give them a spin — they begin to rotate on an axis that further affects how droplets on the surface will collect and freeze. Irregular shapes or bumps might form on one side or another that build up on one another, creating lumps.
The precipitation may be pretty to look at, but it was the result of several dangerous storms that swept through the country:
