Weather Thesaurus Entry: Hailstorm

WEATHER is an important element in any setting, providing sensory texture and contributing to the mood the writer wishes to create in a scene. With a deft touch, weather can enhance the character’s emotional response to a specific location, it can add conflict, and it can also (lightly) foreshadow coming events.

However, caution must accompany this entry: the weather should not be used as a window into a character’s soul. The weather can add invisible pressure for the character, it can layer the SCENE with symbolism, it can carefully hint at the internal landscape, but it must never OVERTLY TELL emotion. Such a heavy-handed approach results in weather cliches and melodrama (a storm raging above a bloody battle, a broken-hearted girl crying in the rain).

SENSORY DESCRIPTORS:

Sight: A hailstorm is incredibly dangerous to anything exposed to it. High velocity balls of snow and ice rain down, varying in size from tiny BB pellets to baseball-sized objects that can dent metal or punch through glass or plastic. Typically hail is accompanied or preceded by rain and starts off small. As the eye of the storm…

Smell: Ozone

Taste: Ozone (a metallic tang on the tongue when breathing through the mouth), water

Touch: The stinging sensation of the speeding balls of ice will trigger the flight response. If caught out in a storm, people and animals will make haste to find any protection available to get away from the hard pellets. Hail, depending on size,can cut or bruise and is certainly painful. In extreme cases, hail can break bones, crush skulls and even kill. Arms are held over the head for protection, the neck…

Sound: The acoustics of a hailstorm depend on the location. If hail falls in a wooded area, the sound would mimic a hard rain as the ice pellets connect with leaves on the way down. If a metal roof is overhead (a warehouse, car hardtop, shed, etc) the pounding roar is deafening and people…

EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS:

Mood: A hailstorm is a strong reminder of human fragility and the awesome force of nature. The strength and fury of such an event can create room for external reflection no matter what internal stress levels might be, or even bring about a spiritual moment. We cannot help but watch in fascination and awe…

Symbolism: The power of nature, Godly disfavor, unpredictability…

Don’t be afraid to use the weather to add contrast. Unusual pairings, especially when drawing attention to the Character’s emotions, is a powerful trigger for tension. Consider how the bleak mood of a character is even more noticeable as morning sunlight dances across the crystals of fresh snow on the walk to work. Or how the feeling of betrayal is so much more poignant on a hot summer day. Likewise, success or joy can be hampered by a cutting wind or drizzling sleet, foreshadowing conflict to come.

Weather is a powerful tool, helping to foreshadow events and steer the emotional mood of any scene.

Need more detail regarding this weather element? Good news! This thesaurus has been integrated into our new online library at One Stop For Writers. There, not only has the information in each entry been enhanced and expanded, we’ve also added scenarios for adding conflict and tension. The entire thesaurus is also cross-referenced with our many other descriptive collections for easy searchability. Registration is free, so if you’re interested in seeing a sampling of the fully updated Weather and Earthly Phenomenon Thesaurus, head on over to One Stop.