Hail Stones in China

[marchesarosa]

Giant hailstones hit China. People hurt, vehicles and crops damaged.

There is even a scale of hail sizes. China's latest were apparently golfball-sized. There others! Namely,

Pea 0.25 inches (6.4 mm)
Marble (small) 0.50 inches (13 mm)
Mothball 0.50 inches (13 mm)
Grape (small) 0.62 inches (16 mm)[
Olive (large) 0.75 inches (19 mm)
Shooter Marble 0.75 inches (19 mm)
Walnut/Ping-pong ball 1.50 inches (38 mm)
Ping-pong ball 1.60 inches (41 mm
Squash ball 1.65 inches (42 mm)
Golf ball 1.75 inches (44 mm)
Hen egg 2.00 inches (51 mm)
Billiards (Pool) Ball 2.25 inches (57 mm)
Orange (Valencia/sweet) 2.38 inches (60 mm)
Cantaloupe 6.50 inches (165 mm)
45 RPM Phonograph Record 7.00 inches (178 mm)
Volleyball 8.00 inches (203 mm)
Bowling Ball 8.25 inches (210 mm)[


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During the Middle Ages, people in Europe used to ring church bells and fire cannons to try to prevent hail, and the subsequent damage to crops. Updated versions of this approach are available as modern hail cannons. Cloud seeding after World War II was done to eliminate the hail threat,[9] particularly across Russia - where it was claimed a 50 to 80 percent reduction in crop damage from hail storms was achieved by deploying silver iodide in clouds using rockets and artillery shells. Their results have not been able to be verified. Hail suppression programs have been undertaken by 15 countries between 1965 and 2005.[18] To this day, no hail prevention method has been proven to work.[9]

wiki en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail

[jonjel]

ns of this approach are available as modern hail cannons. Cloud seeding after World War II was done to eliminate the hail threat,[9] particularly across Russia - where it was claimed a 50 to 80 percent reduction in crop damage from hail storms was achieved by deploying silver iodide in clouds using rockets and artillery shells.

Did it mention the damage done to people by falling artillery shell debris and rocket parts, or was that a kinda trade off for better crops?

[marchesarosa]

Don't joke, jonjel!

We had hail in Leeds yesterday and my house gutters were full of the horrid white stuff that rolled down the roof - I should estimate "wheat grain" size. A delightful freshness in the air afterwards.

In about 1967 or 1968 when I was just married and living in our first house in Green Street Green, it was a very hot summer and I was lounging around in shorts or whatever when suddenly the hail came down and the ground was covered in white ice. The temperature dropped instantly by about 10 degrees C. I seem to remember I had been hoovering the car interior and all the doors were open so it got full of the white stuff, too.

What fun!