Hail can move both up and down in clouds

Answer 1

Hi Nathan!

I wish I would have seen this sooner. I'm guessing this is a true/false question. Hail can in fact move both up and down in clouds.

So what happens is within a shower or thunderstorm you get what is called an updraft, which is air that is quickly rising high into the sky. Showers usually have a weak updraft, while the strongest of thunderstorms have powerful updrafts. Stronger thunderstorms extend through the troposphere (the layer of our atmosphere where weather happens) where the air near the top can be well below freezing. Ice crystals begin to form and begin to bounce around within the cloud, held up by the updraft. Other ice crystals and very cold (supercooled) raindrops begin to stick to the ice crystal allowing it to grow into a hailstone. This hailstone continues to grow until it becomes too heavy for the updraft to hold and it falls to the ground.

Hope this helps!