(More about foul weather at a time when our minds are preoccupied by hurricanes and typhoons) Hail is formed during thunderstorms when there is an intense updraft, high water content increases, and, if the storm cloud is well below freezing, ice water forms. The colder the air temperature, the more hail. Hailstones are essentially layers of ice, sometimes too small to be noticed, other times golf-ball size or larger. Hailstorms can last 10-15 minutes. Read about a devastating Kansas hailstorm a century ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS.)
