Can it hail in the winter – is hail the same as sleet?
Hail usually falls during severe thunderstorms in the summer. Rain drops are pulled back up high into the atmosphere because of powerful thunderstorm updrafts. The upper atmosphere is always very cold, even in the summer. So, when the rain drop gets high enough in the thunderstorm cloud, it freezes into a ball of ice. Then it falls again, with part of the ice ball melting. It can then be pulled back up high into the cloud, freezing again, and becoming slightly larger. The hailstone can go through this cycle several times before it gets heavy enough to finally fall to the ground as a hail stone. Thunderstorms are rare in the winter, but they CAN happen. But usually, the thunderstorm clouds are not as tall as they are in the summer, so it is less likely that the hail process can form. But it IS possible to hail in the winter – just not very likely. But balls of ice often fall in the winter. These are actually ice pellets, or sleet. It is different than hail because it does not go through
