Video shows hail blanketing the ground on Thursday outside a home in Bergerac, a town in southwest France. The hailstones range from about the size of a pea to larger than a marble.
Rain is forecast to continue in the region through Thursday night and into Friday.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, hailstones are formed when thunderstorm updrafts lift raindrops high up into colder atmosphere, where they freeze. The frozen stones grow by collecting and freezing more raindrops. When the hailstones become too heavy to be held aloft by the storm’s updraft, they fall to the ground.
Depending on how quickly the water freezes around a hailstone, it can appear cloudy white due to trapped air bubbles.
