Laurie Bugs, age 14, of Hinton, W. Va., for her question:

CAN IT HAIL WHEN THE TEMPERATURE IS WARM?

A hailstone is a small ball of ice. It has frozen moisture as a nucleus and generally falls during violent thunderstorms when the temperature of the surface is quite warm and often well above freezing.

Hail forms when the temperature of the upper atmosphere is below freezing. Drops of moisture in the clouds are frozen but do not fall immediately because the force e erted on them by the wind is greater than the force due to gravity. The delay gives more ice a chance to build up, adding weight which eventually brings the hail to the earth.