What Objects Meteorologists Use To Explain Hail Sizes, From Peas To DVDs

Meteorologists often use household or sports objects to convey the threats that thunderstorms may bring and to report severe weather damage when it occurs.

Standard Items Work Best: The best comparisons for hail reports are things that everyone has access to or knowledge of and that don't change their size or shape.

The smallest hail (0.25-inch diameter) is often referred to as pea-sized, which doesn't typically cause damage. Damaging hail types start with quarter-sized (1 inch) and ramp up to golf-ball-sized (1.75 inches) and baseball-sized (2.75 inches). The largest hailstones are referred to as softball-sized (4 inches) or grapefruit-sized (4.5 inches).

Objects that can vary in size such as balloons, pebbles or marbles do not make good comparisons.

Use These Items To Improve Warnings For Others: If you receive hail at your location, the size and time of hail could be useful to the National Weather Service. Since they can't see all locations at all times, they use reports from the public to improve their warnings for all of us.

Thunderstorms capable of producing hail roughly the size of quarters are classified as severe thunderstorms. Your local weather service office is interested in hail that is at least one inch in diameter or larger. This is the hail that has the potential to cause damage and injury to people outside.

As a general rule of thumb, this is the type of damage you can see from various hail sizes:

-Golf ball (1.75 inches): Dents on vehicles

-Baseball (2.75 inches): Windshields smashed

-Softball (4 inches): Holes in roofs

If a hailstorm is accompanied by strong winds, those winds can worsen the damage.

Don't hurry outside in a thunderstorm to collect hail for your reports. Severe hail causes bruising and can cause head injuries. You can go outside once thunder hasn't roared in the last 30 minutes and when it otherwise seems safe.

Thunderstorms that produce tornadoes or 60 mph gusts are also classified as severe thunderstorms. You should also report these to your local NWS office.

Jonathan Belles has been a graphics meteorologist and writer for weather.com for 8 years and also assists in the production of videos for The Weather Channel en español. His favorite weather is tropical weather, but also enjoys covering high-impact weather and news stories and winter storms. He's a two-time graduate of Florida State University and a proud graduate of St. Petersburg College.