Freezing Rain/Hail Priya 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 FreezingRain.htmhttp://weather.about.com/od/winterweather/f/ FreezingRain.htm HQ_07060_Atlantis.htmlhttp:// HQ_07060_Atlantis.html rm/article/thunderstorms-during-the- storm_ http:// rm/article/thunderstorms-during-the- storm_