What Is Graupel?
Soft, white, crumbly pellets of snow, sometimes called soft hail, formed when supercooled droplets freeze onto snowflakes. In technical terms: Heavily rimed ice particles 2-5 mm in diameter with opaque, low-density structure in which original crystal features are obscured; graupel-ice collisions in the mixed-phase region are central to thunderstorm charge separation, and graupel serves as a common hail embryo.
Also called: Soft Hail, Snow Pellets
Graupel In Plain English
Soft, white, crumbly pellets of snow, sometimes called soft hail, formed when supercooled droplets freeze onto snowflakes.
The Technical Definition
Heavily rimed ice particles 2-5 mm in diameter with opaque, low-density structure in which original crystal features are obscured; graupel-ice collisions in the mixed-phase region are central to thunderstorm charge separation, and graupel serves as a common hail embryo.
Lessons That Use Graupel
- Snow, Sleet, Freezing Rain And Graupel Unit 5: Clouds And Precipitation
- How Lightning Works Unit 7: Thunderstorms And Lightning
- What's Falling: Hydrometeor Classification Unit 12: Radar Science
