Hail Hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets fall generally in cold weather while hail growth is greatly inhibited during cold surface temperatures. Unlike other forms of water ice such as graupel, which is made of rime, and ice pellets, which are smaller and translucent, hailstones usually measure between and in diameter. The METAR reporting code for hail or greater is GR, while smaller hailstones and graupel
Cumulonimbus and aviation the shear between rising and sinking air. If the airspeed is too high at this point, the airplane will break apart. The crash of Flight AF 447 is indirectly related to this situation: the pilot, being short on fuel, opted for the shortest path while crossing the thunderstorm line associated with the intertropical convergence zone, and the pitot tubes iced over. What followed is known. On-board radars can be deceiving. Hail shafts generate weak radar echoes and are significantly more dangerous than cloudbursts. Close to the ground, heavy rain (or snow at altitude) tends to dampen turbulence (it is said