hail

Precipitation in the form of pellets of ice (hailstones). Water droplets freeze as they are carried upwards. As the circulation continues, layers of ice are deposited around the droplets until they become too heavy to be supported by the air current and they fall as a hailstorm. It is caused by the circulation of moisture in strong convection currents, usually within cumulonimbus clouds.

Hail

Market town and province in Saudi Arabia, 640 km/397 mi northwest of Riyadh; population (1993) 176,800. Built around the Shammar mountain, Hail is situated on the pilgrimage route from Iraq and Syria to Mecca. Hail's main products are vegetables, fruit, wheat, and barley.

Hail was formerly the seat of the Al-Rashid family. Its importance began to decline from the 1920s when the Al-Saud family made Riyadh the capital of Saudi Arabia.