Top-shaped Hailstones

Abstract

IN connection with the abnormal fall of rain which is taking place this cold weather in the North-West Provinces of India, and which has clothed the outer ranges of the Himalaya with snow down to the 5000-feet level, I should like to mention a fall of hailstones which occurred on January 21 near Ramnagar, in the Terai. The hailstones were not very remarkable for size, being generally one-third of an inch across, with here and there a larger one half an inch in diameter. Some peculiarities of shape and structure, however, arrested my attention. Nearly every one that was not deformed by collision was top- or pear-shaped. Owing to their rebounding from the ground, it was impossible to see whether the broad or pointed end fell foremost; but in every case the broad end was composed of perfectly hyaline, amorphous ice, whilst the pointed end was banded crosswise by alternate layers of clear and white ice. In every case this distinction was perfectly well marked.