The Mancunian Way: Why do we get hail in summer?

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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:

Hello,

As an enthusiastic and sometimes successful gardener I’m always glad of some rain on a hot summer’s day.

What I’m not so keen on were the large balls of ice that came hurtling from the sky yesterday evening. I’m not sure the City fans gathered in town for the victory parade were so keen either - although any concerns seemed to disappear once the festivities got going.

So why does it hail in the summertime? Met Office forecaster forecaster Marco Petagne tells me it’s all a matter of energy.

“We’ve had hot and humid air across the UK recently and it’s a combination of those factors that creates enough energy for these showers and thundery downpours" he says.

“It’s more to do with how much energy is in the clouds. If the air is able to rise rapidly it’s enough to allow hail to develop. The more vigorous they become the more chance of hail. Those very intense conditions are perfect.”

Thankfully Marco says conditions will be a bit calmer over the next few days before the risk of showers increases again over the weekend. The good news is that drier air could make it a bit easier to sleep at night.

On to the rest of the day’s news. We’ll be discussing HS2, the region's new waterpark and sharing some pictures and details from that euphoric City victory parade in today’s newsletter. Let’s begin.

It looks like Jack Grealish might need that massive Chinese meal he’s said to enjoy after every match now more than ever. The City star appears to have REALLY enjoyed the celebrations following