Abstract: Based on the hail-day records from 82 weather stations in Anhui province, Chinese Meteorological Disaster Dictionary (1951 to 2005) and the Yearbook of Meteorological Disaster in Anhui Province (2006 to 2009), authors discussed the climatic character and risk zoning of hail disaster in Anhui province. The results showed that the hail days exhibited obvious interdecadal variability,and it had a significant negative correlation with annual mean minimum temperature. The hails usually occurred during March to August,most frequently in June but less in autumn and winter,and it took place from afternoon to sunset. The spatial distribution showed that the hail occurred more in northeast of Anhui province, south of Dabie mountain and Huangshan mountain, but less in Jianghuai region. The index of hail intensity was defined by three factors, the diameter, duration and gust wind, and the percentile method was used to grade the intensity of the hail disaster. This work provided a possibility for quantitative assessment of the intensity of hail disaster. The results of hail disaster risk zoning in Anhui province showed that high risk zones were concentrated in northeast of Anhui province, and low risk zones were mainly in the north of the Dabie mountain and some areas of Jianghuai region. Finally, verified by history disaster, it showed that the results of risk of zoning had a certain rationality and feasibility.

Key words: Hail, Climate character, Index of hail intensity, Disaster factors, Risk zoning