Hailstorms and Their Threat to Indian Crops Explained

A hailstorm is a thunderstorm that drops lumps of layered ice, called hailstones, from a towering cumulonimbus cloud, and in India it is best known as a spring hazard that can flatten standing wheat, mustard, fruit orchards and vegetables within minutes. Hail forms when powerful updrafts inside a storm cloud carry water droplets far above the freezing level, where they freeze and grow in layers until they become too heavy to be held aloft.

India does not have a dedicated “hail season” like the monsoon, but the weeks from late February to May produce a steady run of damaging hail across the north, centre and west of the country. This explainer sets out how hail forms, where and when it strikes, why it is so costly for farmers, what is known about predicting it, and why the popular idea of “stopping” hail remains unproven.

Key Takeaways

• A hailstorm forms in a cumulonimbus cloud when strong updrafts repeatedly lift supercooled water droplets, which freeze into layered hailstones.
• The peak hail season in India runs from late February to May, overlapping with the ripening and harvest of the rabi crops such as wheat and mustard.
• A single hailstorm is usually very local, damaging one strip of farmland badly while sparing villages a few kilometres away.
• Hailstorm damage to crops in India is insured at the individual-farm level under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and claims must be reported within 72 hours.
• No peer-reviewed evidence has shown that cloud seeding, rockets or hail cannons can reliably prevent hail, so protective nets, insurance and timely warnings remain the practical defences.
• During a hailstorm, people are safest inside a solid building or a vehicle, and farm workers should never shelter under isolated trees.

What Is a Hailstorm and How Does Hail Form?

A hailstorm is a severe thunderstorm in which solid ice, rather than rain, reaches the ground, and it begins with a strong updraft of warm, moist air. As the air rises, it cools, its water vapour condenses into cloud droplets, and the cloud grows upward into a cumulonimbus tower that can reach well beyond 10 kilometres in the tropics.

Inside this tower the temperature drops far below zero, yet many droplets stay liquid. These “supercooled” droplets freeze instantly on contact with a tiny ice particle, such as a frozen raindrop or a grain of dust coated with ice. The particle becomes a small hail embryo, and it keeps growing as long as the updraft holds it inside the zone full of supercooled water.

Why hailstones have layers

Hailstones are built in layers because they travel up and down inside the storm. When a stone passes through a region of dense supercooled water it freezes quickly and turns clear, and when it passes through a region of finer droplets and ice crystals it freezes into a milky, opaque layer. Cutting a large hailstone in half shows these alternating rings, rather like the growth rings of a tree.

Why the stone finally falls

A hailstone falls only when it becomes heavier than the updraft can support, or when the updraft weakens. The stronger the updraft, the larger the stones that can be held aloft, which is why the biggest hail comes from the most intense storms. Stones that survive the fall without melting reach the ground at high speed, and larger ones can fall at well over 100 kilometres per hour.

How Big Can Hailstones Get, and Why Does Size Matter?

Hailstones range from about 5 millimetres to the size of a cricket ball or bigger, and damage rises sharply with size because the energy of impact grows with both mass and speed. Meteorologists commonly compare stones with familiar objects, since a rough size is usually all that eyewitnesses can report.

Size is not the only factor. A hailstorm that lasts only a few minutes with large stones can do less overall harm than a ten-minute fall of small stones combined with strong wind, because wind drives the ice sideways and tears apart crop canopies. Duration, wind and the growth stage of the crop all decide the final loss.

Why Does India Get Hailstorms in Spring?

India gets most of its hailstorms in spring because the season brings together the three ingredients a hailstorm needs: warm moist air near the ground, cold air high above, and a trigger to lift the air. From late February the land warms quickly, while upper-level winds are still cool from the winter months.

The lifting trigger is often a western disturbance, an eastward-moving weather system that arrives from the Mediterranean region and brings cold, moist air aloft over north-west India. When this cold layer meets warm, humid air drawn in from the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal, the atmosphere becomes unstable and thunderstorms burst out. Local boundaries, such as a trough of low pressure or a line where winds converge, can then organise those storms into hail-producing cells.

Why spring hail is more likely than monsoon hail

Hail is less common in the monsoon because the freezing level in humid monsoon air is high and the clouds are warm and rain-heavy, so ice often melts on the way down. In spring the freezing level is lower, the air near the ground is warm enough to feed strong updrafts, and the dry layers above favour the growth of large ice particles. That combination explains why March and April, not July, are the months farmers fear most.

Which Parts of India Are Most Exposed to Hail?

The plains and plateau of north-west, central and western India are the most hail-exposed regions, with a separate pocket of risk in Himalayan fruit belts. The pattern follows the track of western disturbances in late winter and the heating of the interior in spring.

• North-west plains: Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh and northern Rajasthan see frequent March and April hail during the wheat harvest.
• Central India: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and eastern Rajasthan are affected when a disturbance combines with moisture from the south.
• Deccan and western India: Marathwada, Vidarbha, north Karnataka and Telangana report hail in the pre-monsoon months, and grape, pomegranate and orange orchards are exposed.
• Eastern and north-eastern India: Parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam and the north-eastern hills see hail in March to May, usually with Kalbaisakhi or nor’wester storms.
• Himalayan orchards: Apple, cherry and stone-fruit growers in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir face hail in April and May at the flowering and fruit-set stage.

Hail rarely hits a district uniformly. Because the damaging core of a storm is narrow, two fields on opposite sides of a village road can end up with completely different outcomes, which is one reason loss assessment is done farm by farm.

How Do Hailstorms Damage Indian Crops?

Hailstorms damage crops by physically bruising, shredding and flattening plants, and the loss is greatest when the storm arrives just before harvest or at flowering. A crop that has put months of water, fertiliser and labour into a field can lose most of its value in a few minutes of ice fall.

Rabi crops: wheat, mustard, gram and vegetables

For wheat, hail in March and April strikes when ears are filling or ripe, so stones knock grain out of the ear and lodge the stalks, making mechanical harvesting difficult. Mustard pods shatter easily, gram and lentil lose pods, and vegetables such as tomato, brinjal and leafy greens are bruised beyond market quality. Even when yield is only partly lost, the grain can be discoloured or sprouted by the rain that follows, lowering the price.

Orchards and cash crops

For fruit growers, the damage lasts beyond a season. Hail scars apples, mangoes, litchi, grapes and pomegranates, and fruit with surface marks sells at a steep discount even if the flesh is sound. Broken branches and torn bark can also weaken trees for years. Polyhouses, shade nets and greenhouse films can be torn open, with the loss extending to costly flower and vegetable crops grown under them.

Wider economic effects

A widespread spell of unseasonal rain and hail can also affect market arrivals and prices, strain rural credit and force governments to announce relief. The wheat and mustard harvests of 2014, 2015 and 2023 were each hit by spells of untimely rain and hail across several states, which led to loss surveys and compensation announcements. Because farm incomes are tightly linked to a single harvest window, one bad week in April can push a household into debt.

What Are the Worst Hailstorms in Indian History?

The deadliest hailstorm in recorded history is widely held to be the one that struck Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh on 30 April 1888, which killed more than 200 people and many animals. Accounts of that event describe stones large enough to kill people and cattle in the open, and the storm is still cited in global lists of deadly weather events.

In modern times, hail seldom kills so many, because better housing and warnings reduce casualties, but it continues to cause large economic losses. Spring spells in 2014, 2015, 2023 and later years damaged lakhs of hectares of standing crops across northern and central India, according to state loss assessments. Individual storms have also produced stones large enough to dent vehicles and shatter windscreens in cities, and injuries to people caught outdoors are reported every year.

Can Hailstorms Be Predicted in India?

Hailstorms can be forecast only in general terms a day or two ahead, and in specific terms only a few hours or minutes ahead, because individual hail cores are small and short-lived. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issues thunderstorm and hail warnings at district and sub-division level and uses colour-coded alerts, from yellow to red, to signal the expected severity.

The tools behind these warnings include satellite imagery, the Doppler weather radar network, automatic weather stations and numerical weather models. Radars can detect the tall, intense echoes that signal large hail, and “nowcasts” issued for the next three hours are the most useful for farmers. IMD also shares agro-meteorological advisories through the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa and mobile apps, so that farmers can decide whether to harvest early, cover produce or move animals.

Prediction still has limits. A storm may produce hail in one village and only heavy rain in the next, and radars cannot see every storm clearly in hilly terrain. Warnings therefore describe a probability across an area rather than a guarantee for a single field.

Does Cloud Seeding or Hail Suppression Work?

There is no convincing scientific evidence that cloud seeding, anti-hail rockets or ground-based hail cannons can reliably reduce hail damage, so these methods should be treated as unproven. The idea is old and appealing: fire silver iodide or other particles into a storm so that many small hailstones compete for the same water and none grows large.

The difficulty is proving it. Hailstorms vary naturally from one storm to the next, so it is almost impossible to say whether a storm would have been worse without intervention. Well-designed trials in several countries have failed to show a clear benefit, and sound-wave “hail cannons” have no demonstrated physical mechanism for stopping hail. Some regions of the world run operational programmes anyway, but many of those are based on tradition and local belief rather than on strong evidence.

In India, claims that a local ritual, rocket or device has “stopped” a hailstorm should be read with caution. Because hail is patchy, a field that escapes is not proof that anything worked. The research focus in India remains on better detection and warning rather than on modifying storms.

How Can Farmers and Governments Reduce Hail Losses?

Farmers and governments can reduce hail losses by combining physical protection, financial protection and timely information, because no single measure covers every risk. The most practical steps are protective nets, crop insurance, adjusted harvest timing and strong local alerts.

• Anti-hail nets: Strong polyethylene nets stretched over orchards catch hailstones before they strike fruit. Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra have offered subsidies for such nets, though the cost and the need for sturdy support structures are barriers for small growers.
• Crop insurance: Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, hailstorm is covered as a localised calamity, and losses are assessed for the individual insured field. Farmers are expected to inform the insurer, bank or agriculture department within 72 hours of the event.
• Harvest and sowing choices: Where a forecast warns of a thunderstorm, farmers can harvest ripe crop early, stack it under cover and avoid leaving cut produce in the open.
• Early warnings: Timely district alerts by SMS, radio and mobile apps help farmers move livestock, cover vegetables and keep people indoors.
• Relief and loss assessment: Hailstorm is on the central list of notified disasters eligible for assistance from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), so states can pay input subsidy to affected farmers after a survey.

What Should You Do During a Hailstorm?

During a hailstorm, the safest action is to move indoors at once, into a solid building or a closed vehicle, and to stay away from windows and skylights. Hail can arrive with little warning, so the first signs, such as a dark green-grey sky, a sudden drop in temperature or a rattling sound on roofs, should prompt immediate shelter.

• Stay inside until the hail stops, and do not step out to collect hailstones.
• If driving, pull over to a safe place, preferably under a petrol-pump canopy or a bridge that does not block traffic, and turn your back to the windows.
• If caught in the open, protect your head with a bag, a jacket or both arms, and avoid isolated trees because they attract lightning during the same storm.
• Bring livestock and pets under cover and keep tractors and vehicles in sheds where possible.
• Do not climb on damaged roofs soon after the storm, since wet and broken surfaces are dangerous.

Is Climate Change Making Hailstorms Worse?

The link between climate change and hail is real but not simple, and scientists do not yet agree on a single trend for India. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and can fuel stronger storms, which favours bigger hail when conditions are right. At the same time, a warmer atmosphere raises the freezing level, so more small stones melt before reaching the ground.

The net effect probably differs by region: studies elsewhere suggest fewer hail days but a greater share of very large stones. For India, long, consistent hail records are scarce, so researchers rely on radar, satellite and insurance data. What is clearer is that irregular winters and more erratic spring weather, with heat followed by sudden storms, raise the risk that hail will hit crops at the most vulnerable moment.

Bottom Line

A hailstorm is a short, local and highly destructive event, and its main victims in India are farmers whose crops are exposed at harvest time. Understanding how hail forms, watching IMD warnings, insuring the crop and using protective nets are proven steps, while hail suppression by seeding or cannons remains scientifically unproven.

Frequently Asked Questions

What causes a hailstorm?

A hailstorm is caused by a strong thunderstorm in which updrafts carry water droplets high above the freezing level. The droplets freeze onto ice particles and grow in layers until they are too heavy for the updraft to hold. They then fall as hailstones.

Which months have the most hailstorms in India?

March and April have the most hailstorms in India, with the season stretching from late February to May. These months combine warm, moist air near the ground with cool air aloft, often triggered by western disturbances. This timing overlaps with the wheat and mustard harvest.

Which Indian states are most affected by hail?

Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana are among the most affected states, along with the apple belts of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Hail is patchy, so the damage varies widely even within a single district.

Is hail damage covered by crop insurance in India?

Yes, hailstorm damage is covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana as a localised calamity. Losses are assessed for the individual insured field rather than the whole village. Farmers should report the loss within 72 hours of the hailstorm.

Can cloud seeding stop a hailstorm?

No, there is no reliable scientific evidence that cloud seeding can stop a hailstorm. Hailstorms vary so much naturally that it is nearly impossible to prove a storm was weakened by intervention. Hail cannons and rockets also lack demonstrated results.

How can farmers protect crops from hail?

Farmers can protect crops with anti-hail nets for orchards, crop insurance, early harvest when a storm is forecast, and alerts from the India Meteorological Department. Covering cut produce and keeping livestock sheltered also reduces losses. No method fully removes the risk, so combining several steps works best.

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