Describe how hail might form in a cumulonimbus cloud

What will be an ideal response?


ANSWER: Hail is produced in a cumulonimbus cloud when graupel, large frozen raindrops, or just about any particles (even insects) act as embryos that grow by accumulating supercooled liquid droplets. Violent, upsurging air currents within the cloud carry small embryos high above the freezing level. As the embryos pass through regions of varying liquid water content, a coating of ice forms around them and they grow larger and larger. When the ice particles are appreciable size, they become too large and heavy to be supported by the rising air, and they then begin to fall as hail. As they slowly descend, the hailstones may get caught in a violent updraft only to be carried upward once again to repeat the cycle.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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