Hail Hail Lightning strikes Lightning is a deadly surge of electical current. Ball lightning What about a glowing ball which moves through the air. Downburst winds Downbursts blast down from a thunderstorm. Fog Fog can pose a serious threat to motorists. Hail is one unusual byproduct of spring thundershower raindrops that take a roller coaster ride to become hail stones.
Animation explains how hail forms.
To view this as a QuickTime movie, with sound, click here. Spring clouds can turn to hail storms. In a storm, warm and cold air currents collide. Raindrops fall and hit a strong updraft, which toss them up to freezing altitudes. They fall and are tossed again, getting bigger each time, until they are heavy enough to resist the updraft.