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A recent report by the Bureau Of Meteorology (BOM) has found that the solidified precipitation that falls from the sky during a hailstorm is not really worthy of a mention in the news – unless people are trying to get their cars undercover because the hailstones are the size of golf balls.
“Hail forms in strong thunderstorm clouds, particularly those with intense updrafts, high liquid water content, great vertical extent, large water droplets, and where a good portion of the cloud layer is below freezing” said leader researcher Professor Lote Sailor from The University of Western Queensland.
“But, really. Unless the pellets coming from the sky are the ‘size of golf balls’ – it’s not really much more than rain that hits you a bit harder”
Since the disastrous Cyclone Tracy battered Darwin in 1974, the bar was raised as to what is and isn’t and impressive or worryingly sized hail stone.
“Basically anything that can fuck up the bonnet of your car” said Sailor.
“And the media should remember to not report them simply as hail stones, but ‘chunks of ice’ falling from the sky”
Scientists say they don’t humans are necessarily at risk from hailstorms, unless the hailstones end up at ‘the size of cricket balls’ – in which case windows start smashing and lollipop ladies get concussed trying to usher kids into their parents cars at school pick up.
