Halm is more expensive and destructive than tornadoes, and it is finally to get more scientific attention this spring, with the largest campaign in the field in the world ever devoted to the study of phenomena.
The new field study is nicknamed Icechip, abbreviation of “collaborative experience in situ for hail collection in the plains”. The project will include around 100 researchers who plan work on the ground in and around the center of the United States in May and June.
The group will use a variety of instruments and techniques for Study of hailstones in thunderstorms In the large plains and the frontal of the rocky mountains.
“As the first campaign focused on American hail in more than 40 years, Icechip aims to make a leap forward in our scientific understanding of all critical aspects of hail,” said the study co-leader, Victor Gensini, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of the North of Illinois, in a statement.
Hail can wreak havoc
Going from pea size to grapefruit, pieces of ice can be wreaked by where they fall, including houses, vehicles, businesses, planes, crops and solar panels.
“With an improved detection and prediction of severe hail – and with a better understanding of the characteristics of hail and surface impacts – people could better protect themselves and protect their goods,” said peopleini. “The huge annual monetary losses could be considerably reduced.”
Tollestorms Total Cars, DESTER ROODS AND DEVAST CORTS, CORTER in the United States $ 46 billion in 2023 – representing 60% to 80% of hail losses, tornadoes, wind and fires caused by combined lightning, according to Insurance Institute for Business and Home Security (IBHS), Scientific magazine reported. “It is therefore not surprising that hail scientists are frustrated that their last major research campaign took place in the late 1970s,” said Science magazine.
Hail
The United States Central Plains declare – and along the Front Range of Colorado and Wyoming – are two of the “alleys of the hail” of the earth, which house powerful thunderstorms that explode rainy drops in the atmosphere, where they freeze and push the layer by a hail.
Indeed, although Florida has the most storms, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming generally have the most hailstorms, the National Laboratory of Severe Storms Reports. “The region where these three states meet on average seven to nine days of hail per year. Other parts of the world which have harmful hailstorms include China, Russia, India and northern Italy . “
The largest hail never recovered in the United States fell to Vivian, in the southern Dakota on June 23, 2010, with an 8-inch diameter and an 18.62 inch circumference.
Will researchers are looking for the hail of “gorilla”?
“Youbetcha,” said peoplei in Usa Today. But what is “Gorilla small”?
Invented by Storm Chaser Reid Timmer, “Gorilla Hail” is a familiar to describe a big hail, said Brad Small, a Meather Service meteorologist.
Hail the size of the gorillas or a large hail is considered 2 inches in diameter or more. Severe thunderstorms can produce hail at least a quarter size (about an inch) or as large as a tennis ball and are accompanied by 58 or more winds, depending on the meteorological service.
In addition to peopleini, the project co-leaders are Becky Adams-Selin, hail scientist at Atmospheric and Environmental Research, John Allen by Central Michigan University and Andy Heymsfield of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
A “Renaissance moment”
“Halm science has a moment of rebirth,” Adams-Selin told National Sciences FoundationAdding that not only will the project provide valuable data for researchers and meteorological forecasters, but also help insurance companies to try to set rates and mitigate damage, roofing companies, farmers and other entities affected by hail. “We are very integrated into people who will use our science,” she said.
Icechip researchers hope to collect data that could improve the prediction of hailstorms and help answer fundamental questions, such as the way in which climate change will affect the frequency of hailstorms and stones, said Science magazine.
The project is funded by a research grant of $ 11 million from the National Science Foundation, which still provided campaign funds on Friday, said peopleini, despite the recent series of budget cuts at the Foundation.