TUESDAY: What is Happening with Hail Pads?

Fun Fact: Hail pads are not (and never were) a requirement for submitting a CoCoRaHS hail report.

When CoCoRaHS first began in 1998, "Hail Pads" (Styrofoam wrapped in aluminum foil) were a great way to study, document, and research hail, especially as a small Colorado localized project. It was an innovative way to capture the sizes and intensity of the hail that fell, especially if you weren't there to see it.

At that time, it was easy to maintain consistency of the Styrofoam and aluminum foil being used, but as CoCoRaHS expanded to additional states, it became expensive to distribute, and inconvenient for volunteers to ship back to HQ for analysis. Additionally, the cost of the Styrofoam (not to mention the hard-to-find "extra heavy duty" aluminum foil) made it even more difficult to maintain.

However, even now in 2026, Hail Pads can still be used, especially for scientific field campaigns (learn more about our field campaign partnerships with NASA and NSF on Thursday!)

Do we still want your hail pads? YES! - Now with photo upload, you can include a photo of your hail pad directly in your report, just like this one from last year. And you can still make your own.