In Texas, severe weather is more prone to happen here than in many other states due to our unique weather patterns. Nesting on top of the Gulf of Mexico, there is quite a bit of moisture that gets mixed with dry air from the west during the springtime which can cause different weather events such as hail. Cities such as Dallas and Fort Worth in North Texas are even more prone to severe weather due to cold fronts that typically don’t make it very far south, causing an increased risk of hail and car hail damage.
In fact — a severe hail-causing storm in North Texas this past spring cost roughly $400 million in damages. The hail sized from 2 inches up to 4.5 inches (roughly the size of a grapefruit) pummeled to the ground, wreaking havoc on hundreds of businesses, homes, and vehicles that were in its’ path. Hail storms aren’t uncommon to Texas, and we have another post going over different tips to prevent car hail damage when these storms do occur. In today’s post, we will be going over how hail is formed to give you a better idea of what these icy little car-damaging cannonballs are.
Let us set the scene for you:
A storm cloud is passing through the Dallas/Fort Worth area on what was a beautiful April afternoon. Warm, moist air from the south makes its way underneath that storm cloud, creating a strong updraft. While the core typically would fall to the earth, this updraft blows upward through the storm cloud, creating layers of ice. As this warm updraft cools from the storm cloud, it loses energy and then gravity takes a hold of the built-up ice layers, pulling it back down through the cloud and collecting even more layers. When the hailstone gets low enough, it will then encounter the warm updraft once again — carrying back up into the cold atmosphere. This continuing process of rising and falling while collecting more and more layers of ice continues on until the hailstone eventually becomes too heavy for the updraft to continue lifting — causing it to fall down onto North Texas. Because we are home to many strong updrafts, this allows for bigger hailstones to be created — which unfortunately also means more home, business, and car hail damage.
If your car has experienced damage due to these cloud-jumping ice balls, you have probably thought about what your best route for repair would be. You can learn about the differences in dent repair methods in this blog. While traditional dent repair gets the job done, paintless dent repair utilizes specialized tools to repair your car quickly, easily, and without the use of paint or fillers, leaving you with an affordable, complete dent repair — not just a cover-up. For more questions regarding paintless dent repair and our services, reach out to us at AJ’s Dent today. We look forward to assisting you with all of your car hail damage repair needs!