On June 16th Buffalo and it’s Northern suburbs was pelted throughout the day with hail ranging in size from dimes to golf balls.

Hail forms when high cool air comes across significant warmer air closer to the ground.  The Hail stone is created by rain drops getting thrown back into the atmosphere above the freezing level.  The tiny pellet gets caught in updrafts.  It then freezes and starts to fall.  It may then get caught again in the strong updrafts.  This process can layer hailstones with many coats of ice making them grow golf-ball sized or even larger.

(photo from Cheektowaga, NY)