LoginIs golf ball-sized hail expected to increase due to climate change?
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Yes.
Climate researchers predict storms that produce golf ball-size or larger hail will become more frequent, thanks to climate change.
According to a 2024 study by Northern Illinois University, a warmer climate increases water vapor in the air, which provides energy for thunderstorms like those seen April 14, 2026, in Wisconsin that produced large hail.
Hail is created when strong updrafts of air are pushed up into the colder atmosphere, freezing water droplets and pushing them around, making the droplets bigger and bigger. Eventually, those hailstones get too heavy and fall to earth.
“Our study suggests golf ball-size hail or larger will become more common because of more atmospheric instability, which leads to stronger thunderstorm updrafts,” NIU Atmospheric Science Professor Victor Gensini said.
A 2017 study in Nature that looked at historic patterns and forecasts also found hailstone size is expected to increase due to climate change.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Nature journal Climate and Atmospheric Science: Hailstone size dichotomy in a warming climate
- Nature Climate Change: The changing hail threat over North America in response to anthropogenic climate change
- Accuweather: Is climate change making hailstones larger?
- BBC: How climate change is leading to bigger hailstones
Is golf ball-sized hail expected to increase due to climate change? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
