GRAUPEL is what happens when snowflakes become coated in ice.
Graupel isn’t hard like hail but isn’t soft like fluffy snowflakes, in fact, it’s similar in composition to Dippin’ Dots ice cream.
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What is graupel?
Graupel is also known as “soft hail” to many but it’s actually not hail at all.
Instead, graupel is more like tiny beads filled with snow and only lightly coated with ice, making them soft to crush.
In order to understand how graupel is formed, one must first remember that all wintery weather begins way up in the atmosphere as snow.
When the air stays cold the entire way down, with no pockets of moisture, then you end up with fluffy flakes.
How does graupel form?
Graupel is formed when there are clouds where ice particles, supercooled water droplets, and snow collide with each other as they get tossed by turbulent air.
Within a cloud that produces graupel, temperatures need to be just below freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit) with some portion being below 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
This allows both supercooled water droplets and snow to exist in the cloud.
During the process that forms graupel, snowflakes collide with supercooled water droplets as they get tumbled by the turbulence.
When these supercooled droplets attach to the snowflake, the droplets immediately freeze on contact covering the snowflake with a thin layer of ice.
How is graupel different from hail?
Graupel differs from hail in the way that it is made, and also in its composition.
Hail is formed during thunderstorms, when when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere and freeze.
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The hailstones grow when they collide with liquid water drops that freeze onto the hailstone’s surface.
The hail falls when the thunderstorm’s updraft can no longer support the weight of the hailstone, which can occur if the stone becomes large enough or the updraft weakens.
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Essentially, hail is pure ice and is hard and dense, while graupel is much softer and only lightly glazed with ice.
Also, while hail is exclusive to thunderstorms, graupel can happen whenever the conditions are right.
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