Move
to Colorado from another state
and an unpleasant surprise awaits:
the price of car insurance.
Your premiums will very likely
be higher here. Why? Hailstorms.
Hail
forms during thunderstorms,
and Colorado has more thunderstorm
days than any other state except
Florida. The states mountains
and high elevation increase
the likelihood that hail will
form in a thunderstorm, making
Colorado one of the hail capitals
of the world. Northeastern Colorado
and nearby Great Plains states
get more hail each year than
any other part of the United
States.
Hail
damage to crops, roofs, and
cars is part of life in Colorado,
but some storms are worse than
others. The second-costliest
hailstorm in U.S. history hit
the state on July 11, 1990.
Hailstones the size of marbles
to tennis balls pummeled the
Front Range for three hours
as the 7-11 hailstorm
moved from Estes Park to Colorado
Springs. Damage totaled more
than $600 million dollars, mostly
affecting roofs and cars.
How
Does Hail Form?
A hailstone starts as a tiny
ice crystal in a thundercloud.
As the crystal falls through
the cloud, it collides with
water droplets that freeze around
it, like the layers of an onion.
Updrafts push the hailstone
back up, and it continues to
grow.
The
more times the hailstone goes
up and down, the larger it gets.
When it gets too large for the
updrafts, it falls to Earth.
Scientists estimate that it
takes 100-mile-an-hour updrafts
to form a baseball-size hailstone.
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Photo
credits: © Corbis Images,
© NCAR, © NOAA, courtesy
NEWS4, Colorado's news channel.
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