It's hail, it's snow, no, it's both -- It's graupel -According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (there really is such a place), graupel are "snowflakes that become rounded pellets due to riming; typical sizes are 2 to 5 millimeters in diameter (0.1 to 0.2 inch); graupel is sometimes mistaken for hail." The process that creates graupel -- aka snow pellets or "soft hail" -- is the same that creates hail. According to the National Weather Service, graupel (click here to learn how to pronounce it) is formed when supercooled water droplets coat a snowflake. "The pellets are cloudy or white, not clear like sleet..." They've also been called "little Styrofoam balls," that can lead to avalanches, acting like small ball bearings between snow layers.
I've never seen graupel before, it was really cool to touch...in Corona Del Mar-what?
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