graupel

Noun

graupel (countable and uncountable, plural graupels)

1. (uncountable) A precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water condense on a snowflake.
   • Is it desirable in giving the falls of hail to draw a distinction between "graupel" and true hail?1873 April, “The Leipzig Conference”, in Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, volume VIII, number LXXXVII, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 42
   • November.— […] Smart shower of graupel (i.e. frozen snow in pellets), with snow at 9 p.m. on 10th.1877 January 24 (date written), Frederick E[rnest] Sawyer, “November”, in Meteorology of Brighton, 1876, [Brighton, East Sussex?]: [s.n.], published [1877], →OCLC, page 2

   Synonyms:

   granular snow, hominy snow, popcorn snow, soft hail

2. (countable) A small ball of rime resulting from this process.
   • It is established that graupels and hailstones are cone-shaped with rounded apexes and that they become egg-shaped as a result of growth during descent.1951 September 15, Donald G. Yerg, “Tikhomirov, E., On the Shape of Graupels and Hailstones (O Forme Krupy i Grada). Meteorologiia i Gidrologiia, 2, No. 9: 66–67, 1936”, in Annotated Bibliography on...
   • [W]hen an ice or snow crystal collides with supercooled droplets, the droplets will freeze on the surface of the crystal to form rime. […] [C]ontinued riming will eventually produce a particle that is completely covered by rimes such that the original crystal shape can no longer be recognized. The...2013, Pao K[uan] Wang, “The Shape and Size of Cloud and Precipitation Particles”, in Physics and Dynamics of Clouds and Precipitation, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN...

   Synonyms:

   snow pellet