Overview

• Project ICECHIP teams collected nearly 4,000 hailstones across Texas and the Great Plains in June 2025 during storm-chasing campaigns.
• Researchers measured hailstone dimensions and weights before using mobile crushing rigs to record the force required to fracture each ice sample.
• Laboratory analysis shows hail strength varies according to the ratio of dense wet-growth layers to air-bubble-rich dry-growth layers.
• Pristine samples caught by the Super Mobile Hail Observatory were delivered to a Colorado cold lab for precise slicing and internal composition studies.
• Scientists are examining how a warming climate could influence future hailstone hardness and probing embedded airborne substances like fungi, bacteria and microplastics.