'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From December 1854 to March 1856. (New Issue.) Edited by the Secretary. Volume XII.' [‎13] (124/258)

ON HAILSTORMS IN INDIA.
13
Form.— The forms of the hailstones winch fall in India seem pretty
much the same as those that have been examined at home, and they aro
chiefly of four kinds—1, pure crystalline masses, either globular or lenti
cular, internally transparent, but covered externally with a coating of
opaque white ice ; 2, the same, but with a star of many points in the
centre, the principal rays of which extend to the circumference—the
section being singularly beautiful ; 3, nearly globular, consisting of thin
cancentric layers, like the coatings of an onion, of different degrees of
transparency, as if increased in size by film after film being frozen over
them in their descent; and 4, agglutinated masses of hailstones, cemented
together subsequent to their pi'unary formation—if indeed these last, which
may consist in part of any of the previous three varieties, are entitled to
the name of hailstones at all.
SIZE.—I have already stated that we are now no longer required to
refer, unless for the sake of familiar comparison, to our hail being as
large as pigeon, pullet, or goose eggs, or pumpkins, having abundance of
accounts to quote from where it has been correctly weighed and measured,
and its precise dimensions put ou record. The largest hailstones seems
to be from ten to thirteen inches, and to weigh from nine to eighteen
ounces. But these are the extreme exceptional cases ; and our average
maxima appear to be from eight to tap inches in circumference, and from
two to four ounces in weight. Their forms are so seldom regular that it is
rarely possible to deduce the one fact from the other.
It is not every oue who has the promptitude of the describer of the
Nainee Tai storm ; but were any one, when a hailstorm occurs, to pick up
two or three of the largest pieces, taking care to note the number, and it
not provided with a balance of his own, to send the water they have
yielded to the Apothecary of the station to be weighed or measured, for
warding a note of the result, the cubical contents of the mass might be
easily computed, and much valuable information obtained. From the
weight of the water it yielded, one of the most important facts connected
with it becomes determined, its mass. The fracture of the hailstones
when large, with the view to examining, and if possible, sketching their
internal substance, is what should be resorted to as frequently as possible*
India affording much greater facilities in this respect than can bo looked
for elsewhere.