Overview
- Mid-July storms in Germany produced pockets of large, damaging hail that left fallen trees, dented cars and numerous fire-department calls.
- The German Weather Service says hail forms when strong thunderstorm updrafts carry drops into freezing heights so they accrete layered ice and eventually fall when heavy.
- Emergency clinicians warn that golf- to tennis-ball–size hail can cause serious head and other injuries and that helmets may not reliably stop the largest stones.
- KIT requests that residents in Baden‑Württemberg freeze individual hailstones about golf‑ball size, photograph them, email hagel@imktro.kit.edu and arrange pickup for lab study.
- Researchers plan 3D scans, cross-sections and 3D‑printed models to link hail shape and internal layering to radar signatures and fall behavior so forecasts and damage estimates improve; past extremes such as Reutlingen 2013 and the 2010 South Dakota record show why better data matters.