Thundery hail in Alice Springs

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Thundery hail in Alice Springs
 Tristan Meyers, Sunday June 14, 2015 - 14:49 EST 

The normally red interior turned white yesterday afternoon when small hail fell in Alice Springs.

Alice Springs was on track for another warm day yesterday. Temperatures topped out at nearly 24 degrees before 3pm, over four degrees above the average for this time of year.

A shortwave low-pressure trough then triggered an unusual storm event for Alice Springs. Temperatures begun to plummet, dropping four degrees in an hour as thunderstorms began to pop up. As showers began to fall, rain turned to small hail of diameters less than 2cm.

A sudden drop in pressure along with above average temperatures triggered this event. The atmosphere was already quite unstable, primed for isolated thunderstorms. However, hail formed due to a relatively cool pool of air aloft along with a dry socket of air.

Additionally, the presence of vertical wind shear aided in supporting the hail as it formed in the atmosphere. As the hail became bigger, the updraft was no longer able to support it size and hail fell.

Showers are likely to continue in Alice Springs today and into the beginning of next week as a series of troughs slowly move east. Rain-free days are looking to return by Wednesday, with a mostly sunny top of 20 degrees.

 - Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2015

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