Freezing Rain/HailPriya Jain and Jess Brighton

Definition of Freezing Rain/Hail

•1. Pellets of Frozen Rain•2. Rain that falls at cold temperatures and

freezes upon contact.

How Hail is formed

•Conditions : Must be inside a Thunderstorm

•Water droplets are picked up by updrafts in a thunderstorm and are frozen

• It falls and thaws• It gets picked up by another updraft, and is

frozen again.•The more times this happens, the more

layers of ice are formed, and it eventually falls to the Earth.

How Freezing Rain is formed• Conditions: It has to be winter, and a warm

mass of air has to be present• There’s a warm mass of air between the ground

and cloud deck levels of the atmosphere.• When rain falls from the cloud deck, it’s snow.

It meets this warm mass of air and melts.• There’s a huge cold mass of air near the ground

(or normal cold mass, not the warm air) and it hits and quickly freezes into ice▫This is why you see long “droplets” of freezing

rain off cars and trees

Diagram of Hail and Freezing Rain

How Hail Affects Humans • Well, NASA’s shuttle ATLANTIS was damaged in a

hailstorm pretty extensively. This was back in 2007, and caused damage to the shuttle’s wings and tanks.

• Hail can kill people, if they’re outside when golf-ball sized hail or larger is falling.

• It also causes property damage, cars, roofs and windows are the most commonly damaged.

• Pets are also known to suffer fatalities when left outside.

• Crops can be adversely affected by large quantities of hail

How Freezing Rain Affects Humans•It’s incredibly slippery.•Seriously, don’t walk on it.•Trees are sometimes laden with heavy ice,

and they will snap and destroy property, take down power lines etc.

•Driving is dangerous. It always is, but even more so when the roads are slick with ice.

Safety and Preparations for Hail and Freezing Rain•If it’s hailing, don’t stand outside.•Move your cars inside, and your pets•Drive carefully or not at all when there’s

ice on the road• If there’s ice on the road, use skates.

Sources

•http://weather.about.com/od/winterweather/f/FreezingRain.htm

•http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/feb/HQ_07060_Atlantis.html

•http://www.weather.com/life/safety/thunderstorm/article/thunderstorms-during-the-storm_2011-10-05