18-05-2025
New hailstorm research program launches in Boulder
DENVER (KDVR) — As Colorado approaches hail season, a new study is aiming to better detect these storms that can cause serious damage both physically and financially.
It's a collaboration between 19 institutions both here in the US and around the world, including CU Boulder and CSU. They're calling it the In-Situ Collaborative Experiment for the Collection of Hail in the Plains, a mouthful that can be shortened to ICECHIP.
Denver weather: Afternoon showers and storms, some severe
Hailstorms like the many we get in Colorado can be costly.
'I think it was something, like, $16 billion last year due to hail damage and so we started to realize, yeah, you might not necessarily cost lives, but is a giant chunk of our economy here,' says Becky Adams-Selin, a senior scientist with Atmospheric and Environmental Research.
That's why the National Science Foundation is funding ICECHIP, a chance to make a dent in that cost like hail on a car.
'It's going to pay big dividends in the long run,' says Adams-Selin.
The program, which launched in Boulder on Saturday will last for the next six weeks around the country and the teams won't wait for the storms to come to them.
Severe weather leaves at least 27 dead, including 18 in Kentucky
'We're heading out to Kansas tomorrow,' says Adams-Selin. 'There's supposed to be a chance of hail.'
They'll be bringing with them cutting edge technology.
'Mobile radars like those you see behind me, including mobile everything now, mobile temperature sensors, mobile hail systems,' says Adams-Selin.
All of this to learn more about these storms than ever before and use that to try and be proactive before the damage happens.
'How does that translate to damage that matters to me? Like, is my roof going to get destroyed? Is my car, is my Weather Beast going to get destroyed?' says Adams-Selin.
Hopefully to eventually put some money back in your pocket in the long run.
'Let's try and reduce these homeowners' insurance premiums,' says Adams-Selin. 'Let's try and get faster warnings out and reduce our ag damage.'
The study is also looking to the future of hailstorm science, training more than 50 students from universities around the country in field research that is critical to the program.
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