在美国，冰雹损失成本在约15年前每年不到10亿美元，如今在2024年飙升至约400亿美元，已超过飓风和洪水造成的合计损失。通货膨胀推高维修费、更多人口与资产迁入多冰雹地区，以及保单条款调整提高风险与冰雹自付额，都加重屋主的财务压力。许多投保人往往在暴风雨过后才发现这些更严格条款，让每一次严重冰雹事件都成为家庭、保险业者与整体经济的数十亿美元冲击。

研究人员采取极端手段量化冰雹行为，从像 ICECHIP 这样的野外计划——记录了近20场风暴和成千上万颗冰雹——到精细测量一颗重364.5克、最宽达6英吋、在短短30分钟内由豌豆大小长成的巨型冰雹。尽管有这些数据，科学家仍无法在一日前可靠预报2英吋冰雹，而天气雷达也难以分辨接近中的冰雹直径是约2英吋还是接近5英吋，这在预测结构损坏与保险损失方面是至关重要的差异。

实验室与保险机构使用标准化、完全球形的冰球测试屋顶抗性，以时速接近90英里的速度发射直径2英吋及更大的弹丸，来认证产品达到最高4级抗冰雹等级。然而，真实风暴可投下不规则的3至4英吋冰雹，有时只会在某些高级金属或砾石涂覆瓦片上留下凹痕而非裂缝，显示有建立更高认证等级与更昂贵抗雹系统的需求。持续进行的实验，包括以无人机投放3D列印的冰雹复制品到冰雹感测板上，旨在更精确估计下落速度、漏水风险，以及在未来可能更剧烈冰雹气候下屋顶的真正性能极限。

In the United States, hail damage costs have exploded from less than $1 billion per year about 15 years ago to roughly $40 billion in 2024, now exceeding combined losses from hurricanes and floods. Rising repair costs from inflation, more people and property in hail-prone regions, and insurance policy changes that impose higher wind and hail deductibles all amplify the financial burden on homeowners. Many policyholders only discover these stricter terms after a storm, turning each severe hail event into a multibillion-dollar shock for households, insurers, and the wider economy.

Researchers are taking extreme measures to quantify hail behavior, from field projects like ICECHIP, which documented nearly 20 storms and thousands of stones, to detailed measurements of a 364.5-gram, 6-inch-wide giant that evolved from pea-sized hail in just 30 minutes. Despite such data, scientists still cannot reliably forecast 2-inch hail more than a day ahead, and weather radar struggles to distinguish whether approaching stones will be about 2 inches or closer to 5 inches in diameter, a crucial difference for predicting structural damage and insurance losses.

Laboratories and insurers test roofing resilience with standardized, perfectly spherical ice balls, firing 2-inch and larger projectiles at nearly 90 miles per hour to certify products up to Class 4 impact resistance. Yet real storms can hurl irregular 3- to 4-inch stones that sometimes only dent, rather than fracture, certain premium metal or gravel-coated tiles, suggesting a need for higher certification classes and more expensive hail-resistant systems. Ongoing experiments, including 3D-printed hail replicas dropped by drones onto hail pads, aim to better estimate fall speeds, water-intrusion risks, and the true performance limits of roofs under future, potentially more intense, hail climates.