Ask A Scientist© Weather Archive

    name        Taylor
 >   age         15


 >   Question -  I was curious as to the speed of hail.Can you tell me
the
 > average speed of hail when it is about the size of a golf ball?


>Taylor,
>
>This took some calculating, which I won't
>bore you with. I calculated the terminal
>fall velocity of an ice sphere the size of
>a golf ball (1.68 inch diameter); it is
>1626.5 cm per second (234.7 miles per hour).
>This is assuming that the hail is a perfect
>sphere, which it rarely is. Normally hail
>is gouged out on the top and enlarged on the
>bottom. More rime collects on the bottom
>than the top as the hail falls.
>
>David Cook
>meteorologist at Argonne Nat. Lab. 
=========================================================