• Question: What is hail? And how does it diffur from snow?

    Asked by emilyyelland2000 to Carla, Madgie, Nick, Vicky, Werner on 10 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Marlene Lorgen

      Marlene Lorgen answered on 10 Nov 2013:

      Hail is lumps of water ice and the largest hail stone recorded measured 20cm in diameter (a tennis ball has a diameter od around 6.5cm)! The main difference between snow and hail is shape. Snow is crystalline ice water in the form of a flake, while hail is a ball.

    • Photo: Werner Muller

      Werner Muller answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      If you leave a car on the street and look at the car after it was snowed under, the car would be undamaged, once the snow is gone. If you look at the car after it was covered in hail, and the hail is gone, the surface will show small dents (or bigger dents depending on the size of the hail). So hail particles are bigger then snow flakes and can cause more damage.

    • Photo: Carla Turner

      Carla Turner answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      The main difference is the the shape of the water. Hail has less air in it’s structure than snow, which is why it is harder.

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