{"id":9470,"date":"2026-05-27T15:31:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9470"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:31:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:31:59","slug":"a-warmer-world-creates-bigger-and-more-damaging-hailstones-study-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9470","title":{"rendered":"A warmer world creates bigger and more damaging hailstones, study says"},"content":{"rendered":"

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A warmer world will likely make bigger and more damaging hail, a new study said.<\/p>

Read more US has deported thousands of Cubans and Venezuelans to danger in Mexico, Human Rights Watch says<\/a><\/p>\n

Because climate change from the burning of fossil fuels should make more high-energy unstable air, which is conducive to hail forming, global storms pelting roofs, cars and the ground with hail bigger than a large marble will increase between 38% and 47% by the end of the century, depending on how much heat-trapping gas the world spews, a study in Wednesday\u2019s journal Nature said. And storms that produce smaller hail will shrink by 4% to 8%, researchers found.<\/p>\n

Hail generally doesn\u2019t kill people, but it is expensive. It already costs the U.S. about $10 billion a year and around $80 billion globally, said study co-author John Allen, a meteorology professor at Central Michigan University.<\/p>\n

Hail does more damage than tornadoes and generally costs \u201cmore than a couple hurricanes a year now,\u201d Allen said in the morning from Guymon, Oklahoma, before he ventured out with scientists who drive into the heart of hail storms to figure out what makes them tick. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen record hailstones in recent years. I find this extremely concerning because we\u2019re not really building our environment to be resilient to hail. We don\u2019t include this in our design standards, for example, for built homes in the U.S. or indeed internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s computer simulations show the mix of larger stones will grow with climate change. Those are the ones that cause more damage, he and outside scientists said.<\/p>\n