COLORADO HAILSTORM OF 22 JULY 1976 - 4. STORM MODEL AND IMPLICATIONS.

This series of papers is a preliminary report on an ongoing investigation into the physical processes responsible for precipitation from thunderstorms of the high plains, with particular emphasis on hail formation. A key aspect of all theories of hail formation is the specification of the trajectories of the hailstones through the storm, including the embryo source regions, the primary hail growth regions, and the phases and size distributions of the hydrometeors involved. Knowledge of these properties, among others, is a prerequisite to a scientific discussion of seeding strategies aimed at altering the natural precipitation processes. A necessary step in deducing the storm characteristics just mentioned is a unified theory of how the storm works, including the structure of the airflow and its interrelationship with microphysical processes. In this paper attempts to summarize some of the important points of the previous three papers in this regard, and discusses some implications of the work for hail suppression.