WHAT IS A HAIL CANOPY?
WeatherSolve Hail Canopy is the ultimate hail protection for every vehicle
WeatherSolve hail canopies are unique in that the focus is to protect every car. That is why we refer to them as a 100% hail canopy. To understand the difference, it helps to understand hail.
Hail, simply put, forms in the cold upper parts of a thundercloud. Large hail is hail that gets caught in a series of updrafts and freezing- with the stone getting bigger with each cycle of falling and rising through the thundercloud, and another freezing layer added.
You have probably heard of record hailstones 8 inches in diameter, but the National Weather Service categorizes hail bigger than 1 inch in diameter as severe.
Hail Damage – caused by weight & Speed of the impact
This comes from the damage it can create. The damage is primarily related to the weight and the speed of impact. Together they affect the impact energy. (Other factors are density, cohesion, angle of impact and irregularity of the stone). Bigger stones fall faster (V is approximately proportional to √(D). They are also heavier (W is approximately proportional to D3)
Putting all this together, we have
Impact energy ≈ constant x D4
So a 1” hailstone on a calm day has an impact energy of 1.4 ft-lbs, but a 3” hailstone has nearly 100 times more energy, and a 4” hailstone has 250 times more energy. WeatherSolve tests it hail canopies with the equivalent of 4” diameter hailstones.
Hail Damage – 1″ Hailstone
Now back to the 1” hailstone that is easily sufficient to dent cars and break glass.
On a calm day, 1” hail falls at about 50 mph.
If the wind happens to be blowing at 50 mph that same hailstone will be traveling at 70 mph and an angle of 45 degrees. That gives it twice as much energy and twice as much chance of breaking a car window or denting a panel.
So how likely is it that the wind will be blowing that fast? Quite likely as it turns out. The same
thunderstorms that have the updrafts to create the hailstones also produce tornados. Example
How do we protect from hail coming in at an angle?
On tent-style covers, the (green) no-damage zone is considerably smaller than the distance between the posts.
This is why WeatherSolve focuses on protection.
- Side shields on the exposed sides
- Protection across the drive lanes between the cars
- Room for parking extra cars in the drive lanes
- Plus a lot less poles to drive around!
A car that is damaged in a hail storm needs to be taken off the lot and repaired if there is one dent or 100 dents.
That is why 100% hail protection makes sense.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For some people, that is enough information so please jump to the contact button and you’re done.
For others who wish to investigate in more detail and get familiar with the technology, please explore. WeatherSolve is proud to be the world leader in suspended fabric structures. No other company has the breadth of locations, the range of environments, or the variety of tested solutions.
This website lays out some of the many options and features as decisions you can participate in, or that we can make on your behalf.
At every point, we have scientific references, results of our in-house testing, and experts on hand to discuss details or help explore ideas. If we don’t know we’ll find the answer for you!
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