Bolivia Hail Storms

Many thunderstorms can produce hard, rounded, or irregular pieces of ice: hailstones.

The greatest hazard is large hail from severe thunderstorms. (Ana Garcia slides video 13:36)

An intense thunderstorm pounded Tarija Bolivia on Sunday October 31, 2021. Tarija is. 

located in the Southern Part of the country, about 540 miles South of La Paz, one of 

Bolivia's two capital cities. In various parts of the city rivers of water and hail flowing 

down streets and residents shoveling hail away from stranded vehicles, much the same way,

one would do with snow. The high temperature in Tarija topped out at 86 degrees. 

Fahrenheit. on October 31, and the low was 59. Hail forms in a thunderstorm as water, 

droplets freeze into ice. As more water freezes onto hailstone, it becomes larger as it, 

rises.  Falling into storm clouds before eventually falling to the ground. Tarija sits at an 

elevation near 6,000 feet which makes the city susceptible to such storms. " Higher elevations tend to have higher hailstorms because they are closer to the freezing 

level than a lower elevation would be," said Accuweather meteorologist Tony Zartman. 

Since air typically cools as altitude increases, higher elevations tend to be cooler than lower 

elevations. However, at that time of the year the average high temperature in Tarija is about 

80 degrees. The surrounding mountains can often act as a focal point for thunderstorms 

development as storms form around the city on nearly a daily basis. " While hail is often 

observed in thunderstorms, it is rare for so much hail to fall in a given area all at once," added Zartman

Mitigation factors

The Helvetas project is supporting authorities to be better prepared to deal with negative impact of natural disasters. Over the past 10 years, Helvetas has contributed to elaborating technical manuals, guidelines, for administrative action and programs and workshops, which were locally tested and nationalized. Participation is such dialogue allows to integrate know how and experiences acquired in the field into policy dialogue legislation and developmental programs. 

References 

Ana Garcia Video slides

youtube.com

accuweather.com

helvetas.org