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1. Agricultural Perspectives on Hailstorm Severity, Vulnerability, and Risk Messaging in Eastern Colorado

   https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-20-0015.1  

   Childs, Samuel J.; Schumacher, Russ S.; Demuth, Julie L. (October 2020, Weather, Climate, and Society)

   Abstract Eastern Colorado is one of the most active hail regions in the United States, and individual hailstorms routinely surpass millions of dollars in crop loss and physical damage. Fifteen semistructured interviews with eastern Colorado farmers and ranchers were conducted in the summer of 2019 to gauge perceptions of the severity and vulnerability associated with hailstorms, as well as to understand how forecasts and warnings for severe hail are received and acted upon by the agricultural community. Results reveal a correspondence between perceived and observed frequency of hailstorms in eastern Colorado and highlight financial losses from crop destruction as the greatest threat from hailstorms. In contrast to the National Weather Service defining severe hail as at least 1.0 in. (25.4 mm) in diameter, the agricultural community conceptualizes hail severity according to impacts and damage. Small hail in large volumes or driven by a strong wind are the most worrisome scenarios for farmers, because small hail can most easily strip crop heads and stalks. Larger hailstones are perceived to pose less of a threat to crops but can produce significant damage to physical equipment and injure livestock. Eastern Colorado farmers and ranchers are avid weather watchers and associate environmental cues with hailstorms in addition to receiving warning messages, primarily via alerts on mobile telephones. Hailstorms elicit feelings of dejection and anxiety in some respondents, whereas others accept hailstorms as part of the job. Increasing awareness of the agricultural perceptions of hailstorms can help the meteorological community direct hail prediction research efforts and improve risk communication to the agricultural sector. 

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2. Subtropical South American Hailstorm Characteristics and Environments

   https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-19-0011.1  

   Bruick, Zachary S.; Rasmussen, Kristen L.; Cecil, Daniel J. (November 2019, Monthly Weather Review)

   Abstract Hailstorms in subtropical South America are known to be some of the most frequent anywhere in the world, causing significant damage to the local agricultural economy every year. Convection in this region tends to be orographically forced, with moisture supplied from the Amazon rain forest by the South American low-level jet. Previous climatologies of hailstorms in this region have been limited to localized and sparse observational networks. Because of the lack of sufficient ground-based radar coverage, objective radar-derived hail climatologies have also not been produced for this region. As a result, this study uses a 16-yr dataset of TRMM Precipitation Radar and Microwave Imager observations to identify possible hailstorms remotely, using 37-GHz brightness temperature as a hail proxy. By combining satellite instruments and ERA-Interim reanalysis data, this study produces the first objective study of hailstorms in this region. Hailstorms in subtropical South America have an extended diurnal cycle, often occurring in the overnight hours. In addition, they tend to be multicellular in nature, rather than discrete. High-probability hailstorms (≥50% probability of containing hail) tend to be deeper by 1–2 km and horizontally larger by greater than 15 000 km2 than storms having a low probability of containing hail (<25% probability of containing hail). Hailstorms are supported synoptically by strong upper- and lower-level jets, anomalously warm and moist low levels, and enhanced instability. The findings of this study will support the forecasting of these severe storms and mitigation of their damage within this region. 

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3. The effects of climate change on hailstorms

   Raupach, T. H.; Martius, O.; Allen, J. T.; Kunz, M.; Lasher-Trapp, S.; Mohr, S.; Rasmussen, K. L.; Trapp, R. J.; Zhang, Q. (February 2021, Nature reviews)

   null (Ed.)

   Hailstorms are dangerous and costly phenomena that are expected to change in response to a warming climate. In this Review, we summarize current knowledge of climate change effects on hailstorms. As a result of anthropogenic warming, it is generally anticipated that low-level moisture and convective instability will increase, raising hailstorm likelihood and enabling the formation of larger hailstones; the melting height will rise, enhancing hail melt and increasing the average size of surviving hailstones; and vertical wind shear will decrease overall, with limited influence on the overall hailstorm activity, owing to a predominance of other factors. Given geographic differences and offsetting interactions in these projected environmental changes, there is spatial heterogeneity in hailstorm responses. Observations and modelling lead to the general expectation that hailstorm frequency will increase in Australia and Europe, but decrease in East Asia and North America, while hail severity will increase in most regions. However, these projected changes show marked spatial and temporal variability. Owing to a dearth of long-term observations, as well as incomplete process understanding and limited convection-permitting modelling studies, current and future climate change effects on hailstorms remain highly uncertain. Future studies should focus on detailed processes and account for non-stationarities in proxy relationships. 

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4. How Many Types of Severe Hailstorm Environments Are There Globally?

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095485  

   Zhou, Ziwei; Zhang, Qinghong; Allen, John T.; Ni, Xiang; Ng, Chan‐Pang (December 2021, Geophysical Research Letters)

   Abstract Understanding how severe hailstorms will respond to climate change remains challenging partially due to an incomplete understanding of how different environments produce hail. Leveraging a record of 14,297 global potential severe hailstorms detected by spaceborne precipitation radar, here for the first time, we explore global differences in the five distinct environmental types producing these storms. Two are found over tropical plains and hills with high convective instability, high‐moderate moisture, and low vertical wind shear (VWS). The third type are supercell environments characterized by strong VWS, with moderate instability and moisture, commonly occurring over mid‐latitude plains. Higher latitude plains and elevated terrain reflect the final two, with moderate VWS and low melting height, instability, and moisture. The variety of hailstorm environment types illustrates distinctions in the associated convective mode and embryo type, highlighting that multiple environment types pose challenges for modeling present frequency and anticipating the response of hail to climate change. 

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5. High-resolution precipitation monitoring with a dense seismic nodal array

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-38008-w  

   Hua, Junlin; Wu, Mengxi; Mulholland, Jake_P; Neelin, J_David; Tsai, Victor_C; Trugman, Daniel_T (July 2023, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract Accurate precipitation monitoring is crucial for understanding climate change and rainfall-driven hazards at a local scale. However, the current suite of monitoring approaches, including weather radar and rain gauges, have different insufficiencies such as low spatial and temporal resolution and difficulty in accurately detecting potentially destructive precipitation events such as hailstorms. In this study, we develop an array-based method to monitor rainfall with seismic nodal stations, offering both high spatial and temporal resolution. We analyze seismic records from 1825 densely spaced, high-frequency seismometers in Oklahoma, and identify signals from nine precipitation events that occurred during the one-month station deployment in 2016. After removing anthropogenic noise and Earth structure response, the obtained precipitation spatial pattern mimics the one from a nearby operational weather radar, while offering higher spatial (~ 300 m) and temporal (< 10 s) resolution. We further show the potential of this approach to monitor hail with joint analysis of seismic intensity and independent precipitation rate measurements, and advocate for coordinated seismological-meteorological field campaign design. 

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