I'm fast coming to the conclusion that as long as I live in the UK, I'll never come to terms with the variability of the weather especially where it affects my cycling. I've learned to deal with head/cross winds, I've learnt to wear the right clothing to deal with cold, and I even have developed some sort of tolerance for rain (even though it obscures my vision). But I can't deal with the latest weapon that the UK weather has hurled at me from its arsenal...
HAIL.
It's not as if I haven't experienced a shower of hailstones before, but it was only yesterday I had direct experience of being caught on one while riding. A Very Unpleasant and Painful Experience to say the least, and sadly not one I think anyone can do much about except head for the nearest shelter and hide.
Out of curiosity, how is it that we're only experiencing hail (which is essentially ice and therefore should be formed in temperatures close to zero) in spring? How come this never happened in winter when temperatures were closer to zero?
"Sky Fly" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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I'm fast coming to the conclusion that as long as I live
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Out of curiosity, how is it that we're only experiencing hail (which is essentially ice and therefore should be formed in temperatures close to zero) in spring? How come this never happened in winter when temperatures were closer to zero?
It depends on the temperature several 1000 feet up and since the vernal equinox was only 4 days ago, it's not likely to have warmed up much since winter officially ended. I got stung in February cycling into a north wind with hail - as long as you wear safety specs it's not too bad.
"Hail is formed by updrafts in cumulonimbus clouds. These updrafts circulate frozen raindrops or graupel up into regions of super-cooled droplets. Each time the hailstone circulates through the cloud, it gains another layer of ice by accreting these droplets. This continues until the hailstone is so large that the updrafts can no longer support it, and it falls to the earth." -- Simon Mason Anlaby East Yorkshire. 53°44'N 0°26'W simonmason.karoo.netsimonmason.karoo.netOpen ↗
"Sky Fly" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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HAIL.
It's not as if I haven't experienced a shower of hailstones before, but it was only yesterday I had direct experience of being caught on one while riding. A Very Unpleasant and Painful Experience to say the least, and sadly not one I think anyone can do much about except head for the nearest shelter and hide.
just be grateful they were good old British hailstones
Yup - hail can *sting*. It's always useful to be wearing some sort of eye wear - in good weather it keeps insects at bay. In any weather it keeps the grit thrown up by passing vehicles at bay and in bad weather it keeps the rain & hail out of the eyes.
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Out of curiosity, how is it that we're only experiencing hail (which is essentially ice and therefore should be formed in temperatures close to zero) in spring?
The hail is formed thousands of feet up - and the temp up there is cold.
Cheers, helen s
--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune h*$el*$$e**- nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$
"Sky Fly" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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.. HAIL.
It's not as if I haven't experienced a shower of hailstones before, but it was only yesterday I had direct experience of being caught on one while riding. A Very Unpleasant and Painful Experience to say the least, and sadly not one I think anyone can do much about except head for the nearest shelter and hide.
It's usually possible to angle your head so the stones don't hit you directly in the face.
"Sky Fly" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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Out of curiosity, how is it that we're only experiencing hail (which is essentially ice and therefore should be formed in temperatures close to zero) in spring? How come this never happened in winter when temperatures were closer to zero?
Most memorable/painful hail while commuting in Yorkshire was in July.
I've seen the mess a proper hailstorm can do in Austrian mountains, again July/August.
"Sky Fly" <[email hidden]> wrote in message -"]news:[email hidden]- berlin.de...
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HAIL.
It's not as if I haven't experienced a shower of hailstones before, but it was only yesterday I had direct experience of being caught on one while riding. A Very Unpleasant and Painful Experience to say the least, and sadly not one I think anyone can do much about except head for the nearest shelter and hide.
just be grateful they were good old British hailstones
A bloke I knew, a real character, was really proud of his old Lada. One year he went on a holiday to Brittany with it. It suffered a bad hail storm and came back covered in dimples like a golf ball.
I saw the biggest hail stones of my life on December 24th in Melbourne, Australia, they were about 1/2" in diameter. The locals hadn't seen hail anywhere near as large as that before and were taking photos of them
It's not as if I haven't experienced a shower of hailstones before, but it was only yesterday I had direct experience of being caught on one while riding. A Very Unpleasant and Painful Experience to say the least, and sadly not one I think anyone can do much about except head for the nearest shelter and hide.
The UK variety are quite small and benign compared to more southerly countries. Its rare but I'd rather be riding in UK hail than European or North American
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Out of curiosity, how is it that we're only experiencing hail (which is essentially ice and therefore should be formed in temperatures close to zero) in spring? How come this never happened in winter when temperatures were closer to zero?
It needs the sun heating to drive the circulation in the cloud that forms the hailstone and a temperature where liquid water from the cloud can accrete on the outside of the hailstone as it circulates between the warmer bottom and colder top of the cloud. If its too cold that won't happen. Hailstorms are commonest in spring and summer and least common in winter
"Sky Fly" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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Out of curiosity, how is it that we're only experiencing hail (which is essentially ice and therefore should be formed in temperatures close to zero) in spring? How come this never happened in winter when temperatures were closer to zero?
Ahh. The old presumption that weather should be logical. Remember the words of a wise man (Bob Hope, I believe) -- the English can have all four seasons in one day.
Or Guy of this parish who characterised the seasons something along the lines of Warm wet, Cold wet, Very cold wet and July 12th (though the date of this season can vary)
"dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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HAIL.
Yup - hail can *sting*. It's always useful to be wearing some sort of eye wear
If you are talking about special cyclist eyewear Helen, I'm afraid this isn't an option for me because I'm quite short sighted and *need* to have my glasses on pretty much all the time. (Contacts aren't an option either.)
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- in good weather it keeps insects at bay.
I would have thought that "good weather" and "hail" are mutually exclusive.
<Penny drops>
Oh, you're talking about the *eye wear*, not the hail. I was beginning to wonder how hail could protect you from grit, etc.
"Adrian Boliston" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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"Sky Fly" <[email hidden]> wrote in message -"]news:[email hidden]- berlin.de...
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.. HAIL.
It's not as if I haven't experienced a shower of hailstones before, but it was only yesterday I had direct experience of being caught on one while riding. A Very Unpleasant and Painful Experience to say the least, and sadly not one I think anyone can do much about except head for the nearest shelter and hide.
It's usually possible to angle your head so the stones don't hit you directly in the face.
True - but then, I find that I no longer have an overall view of the road, and in effect I am leaping from the frying pan of painful hailstones to the fire of even more painful RTA.
Out of curiosity, how is it that we're only experiencing hail (which is essentially ice and therefore should be formed in temperatures close to zero) in spring? How come this never happened in winter when temperatures were closer to zero?
The worst hail I've experienced has always been in summer thunderstorms.
"Simon Mason" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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"Sky Fly" <[email hidden]> wrote in message -"]news:[email hidden]- berlin.de...
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I'm fast coming to the conclusion that as long as I live
Quoted message said:
Out of curiosity, how is it that we're only experiencing hail (which is essentially ice and therefore should be formed in temperatures close to zero) in spring? How come this never happened in winter when temperatures were closer to zero?
It depends on the temperature several 1000 feet up and since the vernal equinox was only 4 days ago, it's not likely to have warmed up much since winter officially ended. I got stung in February cycling into a north wind with hail - as long as you wear safety specs it's not too bad.
"Hail is formed by updrafts in cumulonimbus clouds. These updrafts circulate frozen raindrops or graupel up into regions of super-cooled droplets. Each time the hailstone circulates through the cloud, it gains another layer of ice by accreting these droplets. This continues until the hailstone is so large that the updrafts can no longer support it, and it falls to the earth." -- Simon Mason Anlaby East Yorkshire. 53°44'N 0°26'W simonmason.karoo.netsimonmason.karoo.netOpen ↗
Interesting article in today's Times (back page) about how hail is formed.
"Tony W" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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"Sky Fly" <[email hidden]> wrote in message -"]news:[email hidden]- berlin.de...
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Out of curiosity, how is it that we're only experiencing hail (which is essentially ice and therefore should be formed in temperatures close to zero) in spring? How come this never happened in winter when temperatures were closer to zero?
Ahh. The old presumption that weather should be logical. Remember the words of a wise man (Bob Hope, I believe) -- the English can have all four seasons in one day.
I've heard that applied to Melbourne as well. Their seasons are a tad more clement than ours though!
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Or Guy of this parish who characterised the seasons something along the lines of Warm wet, Cold wet, Very cold wet and July 12th (though the date
