Hail forms when strong updrafts in thunderstorms carry raindrops high into the cold upper atmosphere, where they freeze into ice. These ice pellets then fall to the ground as hail.
Chat with our AI personalities
Freezing rain occurs when rain falls onto a surface that is below freezing temperature, causing the rain to freeze upon contact and create a layer of ice. This can result in very slippery conditions on roads, sidewalks, and other surfaces, making travel hazardous.
Atmosphere, thermometer, gravity, rain, condensation, cumulus cloud, hurricane, humidity, transpiration, lightning, precipitation, meteorologist, tornado, rainbow, dew, fog, snow, wind, thunder, hail, drought, cirrus cloud, monsoon, barometer, nimbostratus cloud, temperature, and stratus cloud.
A wide variety of cloud colors have been reported during tornadoes depending on how the parent storm is arranged and on the position of the sun. Tornadoes need thunderstorms to form so there will always be clouds overhead if there is a tornado. Sometimes the clouds have the typical gray color of a thunderstorm, sometimes becoming dark gray and even black. If the sun is relatively low the clouds may appear green, yellow, or even a greenish-blue.
A Doppler radar detects motion, including the speed and direction of objects such as precipitation particles in the atmosphere. By measuring the frequency shift in the radar signal caused by the motion of the particles, the radar can provide information about the intensity and movement of weather systems like storms and rain.