Abstract:Based on the hail observation data in western Shandong during 1978 - 2020, the characteristics of hail variation was analyzed. Furthermore, hail clouds tracks was studied by using K-means clustering algorithm. The results show that: (1) The hail in western Shandong present obvious spatial-temporal characteristics. Compare to before 2000, the total hail days show decreasing trend after 2000. The spatial distribution characteristics of hail tend to be higher in the north, but lower in the south. (2) There are five main hail paths, including north path, northwest path, west path, southwest path and local generation path. Among the five types of hail paths, northwest path account for the largest portion, southwest path take the lowest portion. The west path produce the longest duration, southwest path produce the shortest duration. (3)There are five synoptic-scale circulation patterns, namely low vortex, low trough, transverse trough, northwest current and the edge of the subtropical high, which low vortex type has the largest share.