May 30, 2007 12:27 pm US/Mountain
Why Are There So Many Hailstorms In Colorado?
by Alan Gionet
DENVER (CBS4) ―
The Front Range of Colorado is one of the places in the United States that gets the most severe thunderstorms packed with hail. The reason is Colorado's geographic location and altitude.
CBS4's Alan Gionet asked the Good Question: Why are there so many hailstorms in Colorado?
"We're in such a situation where the warm and cold air are clashing into one another so we're kind of geographically just in the right place and the mountains help out with that," said Stacey Donaldson, a CBS4 meteorologist. "The altitude has to do with how big the hail is and how it doesn't melt very much because we're closer to the bottom of the clouds."
Tall clouds allow updrafts and downdrafts that start to freeze the moisture as it gets to about 45,000 feet. When the hail is light enough, it gets blown up by the warm temperatures. At higher altitudes, it freezes again, picks up more water and then drops down as ice. Gravity eventually stops the cycle when the hail gets big enough and falls to the ground.
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