Graupel

Recently, parts of Pennsylvania witnessed graupel. Graupel is not snow, nor is it hail. Wikipedia defines graupel as:

Graupel (German pronunciation: [ˈɡʁaʊpɛl]; English /ˈɡraʊpəl/, also called soft hail or snow pellets) is precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water are collected and freeze on a falling snowflake, forming a 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) ball of rime. The term graupel comes from the German language.

Graupel is distinct from hail, small hail and ice pellets: the World Meteorological Organization defines small hail as snow pellets encapsulated by ice, a precipitation halfway between graupel and hail. The METAR code for graupel is GS.

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