Hail strikes again!

Forsyth MO - Normally, hail falling from the skies is a pretty rare event. Part of the reason is the conditions required to it to form. (Hail forms when thunderstorm updrafts are strong enough to carry water droplets well above the freezing level. This freezing process forms a hailstone, which can grow as additional water freezes onto it. Eventually, the hailstone becomes too heavy for the updrafts to support it and it falls to the ground.) The other reason is that when it does fall, it tends to fall in rather narrow strips and only for short periods of time. It's not unusual for a person in a car to be in dry conditions one minute, a driving rain with hail the next and then back out of the whole deal a few minutes later. Lastly, hail in southwest Missouri is much more likely early into the spring season when enough cold air can be scrounged up!

So, it was amazing to me to see similar hail events, one on March 9 and the other May 11 happened so darn close together. The picture at right was a hailstone that greeted me at my front door. And yes, it was made in the good ol US of A!