Hail has clear and cloudy bands. Why not just 'up-down elevator rides'?

Answer: Varied cloud-zone paths

Lightning paints the layers — No. Lightning can accompany severe storms, but it does not paint hailstone layers. The layer contrast comes from how fast newly collected water freezes and whether air bubbles are trapped. That makes a hailstone more like a messy storm diary than a lightning photograph.

Each layer is a new storm — Not quite. A hailstone can record many growth conditions within one storm, especially a supercell with complex flow. The layers do not require separate storms stacked together. The useful correction is that storm winds are three-dimensional, with sideways and rotating motion, not just an elevator.

Varied cloud-zone paths ✓ — Correct. The bands record changing temperature and liquid-water conditions around the hailstone, but its path is not a simple vertical shuttle. NSSL says horizontal winds and rotating updrafts can move stones across or near updraft regions. Clear ice forms when freezing is slower and bubbles escape; cloudy ice traps bubbles during rapid freezing.