ST. LOUIS — Hail hit the St. Louis region as a severe storm system moved through the area throughout Wednesday.
Hail in excess of 2 inches in diameter, wind gusts over 70 mph and strong tornadoes are all possible throughout the St. Louis region.
5 On Your Side viewers sent photos and videos of hail and some appeared to be spikey.
According to the National Weather Service, hail is formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into freezing parts of the atmosphere, which cause them to freeze. The size and shape of hail can vary, so why does some hail look round while other hail looks spikey?
As hail is in strong updrafts and turbulent conditions, they can grow by sticking to each other in a process called "wet growth." If the outer coating of hailstones is not completely frozen, they can collide with each other and stick, causing them to appear bumpy or spikey, according to the Midwestern Regional Climate Center.
"The storms are full of turbulence, full of wind, there is a lot of wind," 5 On Your Side's Chief Meteorologist Scott Connell said. "And also when you start getting hail this large, what happens is maybe that initial, small hailstones is bumping into larger drops of water and instantaneously freezing them while on the fly through the clouds. And sometimes you also get the smaller hailstones that start to stick to eachother and you get these really unusually large shaped and dangerous hailstones, because they are spikey like that and can easily break windows."
Have weather photos or videos from Wednesday's storm? Send them to 5 On Your Side at 314-435-5355.
Stay up-to-date on the latest weather conditions here.
