When it comes to extreme weather, hurricanes and tornadoes seem to get the most attention. Hail tends to fly under the radar, literally and metaphorically. Yet hailstorms total cars, destroy roofs, and devastate crops, costing the U.S. $46 billion in 2023 alone. That $46 billion represents 60-80% of losses from hail, tornadoes, wind, and lightning combined.
A new project called the In-situ Collaborative Experiment for the Collection of Hail in the Plains (ICECHIP) hopes to bring more awareness and research into studying hail. The National Science Foundation approved more than $11 million in funding in August, which will be the largest ever international campaign for studying hail.
Around 100 researchers from four countries and eleven states are planning fieldwork in May and June 2025 in the Central Plains and the Front Range to gather data that could improve hailstorm predictions and answer questions such as how climate change will affect the frequency and size of hail.
The project will also study the impacts of climate change on hail. A modeling study by Victor Gensini predicts that overall, hailstorms should become less common because warming air will tend to melt more hailstones as they fall. However, the warming air will also drive up the frequency of strong thunderstorms, where updrafts suspend hailstones for longer, allowing them to grow larger.
ICECHIP will use technology such as high-speed videography, drone imagery, and mobile radar to study the hail. Balloons will also be used to deliver 3D-printed spherical sensors called hailsondes into storms to mimic the movement of hail.