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extreme weather

James Dinneen holds a large hail stone from this year's ICECHIP research
Physics

Storm-chasing scientists hunt for the world’s most extreme hail

As dozens of meteorologists undertake the largest ever study of extreme hail, 91av environment reporter James Dinneen rides into the storm inside a fortified truck called the Hail Hunter

Video
This is a supercell photographed near Arnett, Oklahoma on June 17th. At the moment of the picture, a tornado is ongoing in the center of the image buried in rain, and hail bigger than 55mm (2.17???) is falling and being collected by the hail hunting vehicle. The lightning was prolific because the storm was well over 65,000 feet tall during its peak strength. The lightning was so constant that in 1/8th of a second (the exposure time of this picture), I was able to capture 3 strikes. Most of the lightning was positive, which is stronger than the typical lightning strike which are negative. This can be an indicator of an abundance of hail within the storm, as hail can increase the amount of built up electrical charge within the updraft. Positive strikes typically originate from the top of the storm (anvil) and are characterized by one singular channel without much branching (leftmost strike). Typically striking within the inflow of the storm, they also only strike once instead of strobing with multiple strokes/pulses like negatively charged lightning does. Hope this is enough information about the storm! I can always share more if needed.

Earth

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