zpostcode
Massive heat wave and a supercell thunderstorm caused deadly, baseball-sized hailstones to rain down on Spain
Apr 4, 2025 10:37 PM

A heat wave fueled by climate change helped create deadly, record-breaking hail in Spain, a new study finds.

The baseball-sized hail hit northeastern Spain in August 2022, injuring 67 people and killing a 20 month old girl. Videos of the storm show balls of ice up to 4.7 inches (12 centimeters) wide dropping from the sky, smashing car windows and damaging property.

La pedregada/bombardeig d'aquest vespre.#Forallac@MeteoMauri @TomasMolinaB @eltempsTV3 pic.twitter.com/RgYJLYPHPnAugust 30, 2022

See moreTo better understand the event, researchers ran computer simulations to predict the impact of the hailstorm under different conditions. They found that extra atmospheric energy and moisture from a marine heat wave in the Mediterranean Sea intensified the hailstorm and helped create the massive hailstones, according to the study, published March 22 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The hailstones were the largest ever recorded in the country, and the death was the first direct hail fatality in Europe in more than 25 years. Study co-author Carlos Calvo-Sancho, a doctoral candidate who studies severe weather at the University of Valladolid in Spain, told Live Science that he thinks hail is now the main severe-weather threat to Europe.

Although the 4.7-inch-wide hailstones broke records in Spain, researchers have documented even larger examples elsewhere. For example, Italy recorded a hailstone diameter of 7.5 inches (19 cm) in 2023, while the U.S. record is an 8-inch-wide (20.32 cm) hailstone that fell in South Dakota in 2010.

Related: AI-powered 'digital twin' of Earth could make weather predictions at super speeds

Hail forms from frozen raindrops that are carried high into cold parts of the atmosphere on updrafts during thunderstorms, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Severe Storms Laboratory. The Spanish hail event was part of a supercell thunderstorm, which has a deep and persistent rotating updraft called a mesocyclone, according to the National Weather Service. This gives the hail more time to accumulate new water droplets and get bigger before falling back to Earth.

The window of a broken vehicle, as a consequence of the hail storm, on 31 August, 2022 in La Bisbal d'Emporda, Girona, Catalonia, Spain.

To simulate the hailstorm, the researchers looked at more than 150 large-hail reports collected between 1940 and 2022. They found that removing the marine heat wave as a factor meant the giant hail was less likely to occur, according to the study.

A marine heat wave involves a persistent anomaly of higher sea surface temperatures for at least five days. In this case, the Western Mediterranean Sea was 5.89 degrees Fahrenheit (3.27 degrees Celsius) hotter than normal for six weeks during the summer of 2022, when the hail event occurred, according to the study.

RELATED STORIESAtlantic's hurricane alley is so hot from El Nio, it could send 2024's storm season into overdrive

32 US cities, including New York and San Francisco, are sinking into the ocean and face major flood risks by 2050, new study reveals

We may need a new 'Category 6' hurricane level for winds over 192 mph, study suggests

With climate change increasing sea surface temperatures, the team also examined what role humans may have had in the hail event. To do so, they compared the conditions with those of a preindustrial climate.

"When we resimulated the event, we saw that the hail size is lower [in preindustrial conditions] than in present conditions," Calvo-Sancho said.

This isn't the first study to link climate change to the size of hailstones and the severity of hailstorms. A 2017 study published in the journal Nature Climate Change is one of several examples that predict more frequent larger-hail events are coming.

Comments
Welcome to zpostcode comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Recommend >
13 Buildings That Tell Berlin’s Story
      The history of Berlin is a long one, filled with triumphs and tragedies. These 13 buildings span centuries and capture, in microcosm, the city’s unique progression through time and arrival in the present.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, edited by Mark Irving (2016)....
13 Buildings You Should Visit When You’re in Tokyo
     topimages/Shutterstock,com Tokyo was once known as Edo, which began as a fishing village many centuries ago. Edo became Tokyo (”Eastern Capital”) in the 19th century, when it became Japan’s capital. This list highlights just a few of the many significant buildings in Tokyo.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must See...
14 Buildings That Lay Bare Scotland’s Soul
      “I am a Scotsman,” Sir Walter Scott once wrote; “therefore I had to fight my way into the world.” This list explains how these 14 buildings fought their way onto Scottish soil.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, edited by Mark Irving (2016). Writers’ names...
19 Essential Italian Churches
  Italy’s rich architectural heritage includes thousands of churches built across two millennia. Here are 19 of the most notable ones.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these churches first appeared in 1001 Amazing Places You Must See Before You Die, edited by Richard Cavendish (2016). Writers’ names appear in parentheses.   Basilica of San Vitale      basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna,...
Information Recommendation
11 Must
     None Mexico City was founded in 1521, on the ruins of Tenochtitlán. It is a densely populated city surrounded on three sides by mountains, and at its heart is a gargantuan public square with a long history. These 11 buildings capture the dynamic spirit of Mexico City’s past and present.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first...
19 Historic Buildings to Visit in Rome
      The term historic may be understated for a city that can trace its origins, as a continuous settlement, to the first millennium BCE. Nearly everything about Rome might be considered historic. This list merely skims the surface of the buildings worth seeing in Italy’s national capital.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in...
21 Tombs Around the World
     A tomb, according to Britannica’s entry, is “a home or house for the dead.” Here are 21 tombs (or sites of many individual tombs) from around the world that show the varied ways that different cultures at different times have housed and honored their dead.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these tombs first appeared in 1001 Amazing...
11 Iconic Buildings in Brazil
      Brazil is a very large country: it fills half of South America and is larger, in area, than the continental United States. That means it has a rich and vast architectural heritage. Here are just 11 of its most iconic buildings.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must...
19 Significant Buildings Worth Seeing in Denmark
      Denmark spreads over a peninsula and an archipelago of more than 400 islands. Its architectural landscape is just as varied as the land it occupies.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, edited by Mark Irving (2016). Writers’ names appear in parentheses.   Høpfner A/S...
12 Revolutionary Buildings to Visit in Vienna
      Vienna has been the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and the empire known as Austria-Hungary. After World War II, it was occupied by multiple countries’ forces. History courses through its streets, as evidenced by these 12 buildings, but revolution does too. Each of these buildings performs its own type of rebellion.   Earlier versions of the descriptions...
20 Buildings Not to Miss in Australia
      From the Rose Seidler House and Mooloomba House to the Sydney Opera House, these 20 buildings are examples of some of Australia’s most architecturally and historically important structures.   Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, edited by Mark Irving (2016). Writers’ names appear in...
19 Places That Exemplify Cool Swiss Style
      Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, edited by Mark Irving (2016). Writers’ names appear in parentheses.   Valerio Olgiati’s redesign of a 19th-century building in Flims constitutes a radical transformation of its character. Placed directly by the curving roadside, the Yellow House enjoys...