Graupel (; ), also called soft hail or hominy snow or granular snow or snow pellets, is

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

that forms when supercooled water droplets in air are collected and freeze on falling snowflakes, forming balls of crisp, opaque rime. Graupel is distinct from

hail Hail is a form of solid Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailsto ...

and ice pellets in both formation and appearance. However, both hail and graupel are common in thunderstorms with cumulonimbus clouds, though graupel also falls in winter storms, and at higher elevations as well. The METAR code for graupel is GS.

Formation

Under some atmospheric conditions,

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

crystals may encounter supercooled water droplets. These droplets, which have a diameter of about on average, can exist in the liquid state at temperatures as low as , far below the normal freezing point as long as it is above the homogeneous

nucleation In thermodynamics, nucleation is the first step in the formation of either a new Phase (matter), thermodynamic phase or Crystal structure, structure via self-assembly or self-organization within a substance or mixture. Nucleation is typically def ...

point of water. Contact between a snow crystal and the supercooled droplets results in freezing of the liquid droplets onto the surface of the crystal. This process of crystal growth is known as accretion. Crystals that exhibit frozen droplets on their surfaces are often referred to as rimed. When this process continues so that the shape of the original snow crystal is no longer identifiable and has become ball-like, the resulting crystal is referred to as graupel. As graupel falls, it often deforms into a conical shape. This conical shape, in turn, determines which direction it falls and how far it travels as it falls. Small graupel particles with a base diameter less than 1mm generally fall with the conical base down, but if the particle is between 1mm and 3mm persistent oscillations around the center of the conical base appear, and if larger than 3mm the graupel particle will start to tumble. As the base diameter increases, conical graupel particles generally further horizontally from where it initially fell. Graupel was formerly referred to by meteorologists as "soft hail." Graupel is distinguishable from true hail in both the shape and strength of the pellet and, in some cases, the circumstances in which it falls. Ice from

is formed in hard, relatively uniform layers and usually falls only during thunderstorms. Graupel forms fragile, soft, oblong crystals and falls in place of typical snowflakes in wintry mix situations, often in concert with ice pellets. However, graupel does also occur in thunderstorms. Graupel is also fragile enough that it will typically fall apart when pressed on.

Microscopic structure

The frozen droplets on the surface of rimed crystals are difficult to see even when zoomed in, and the topography of a graupel particle is not easy to record with a light microscope because of the limited resolution and depth of field in the instrument. However, observations of snow crystals with a low-temperature scanning electron microscope (LT-SEM) clearly show frozen cloud droplets measuring up to on the surface of the crystals. The rime has been observed on all four basic forms of snow crystals, including plates, dendrites, columns and needles. As the riming process continues, the mass of frozen, accumulated cloud droplets eventually obscures the form of the original snow crystal, thereby giving rise to graupel. File:Graupel encasing a snow crystal.jpg, Graupel encasing and hiding a snow crystal from view File:Snowflake 300um LTSEM, 13368.jpg, Rime on both ends of a columnar snow crystal

Graupel and avalanches

Graupel commonly forms in high-altitude climates and is both denser and more granular than ordinary

, due to its rimed exterior. Macroscopically, graupel resembles small beads of

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It i ...

. The combination of density and low viscosity makes fresh layers of graupel unstable on slopes, and layers of or higher present a high risk of dangerous slab

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

s. In addition, thinner layers of graupel falling at low temperatures can act as ball bearings below subsequent falls of more naturally stable snow, rendering them also liable to avalanche or otherwise making surfaces slippery. Graupel tends to compact and stabilise ("weld") approximately one or two days after falling, depending on the temperature and the properties of the graupel.

Gallery

File:Schneeflocke wird zu Graupel.jpg, Snowflakes can turn into graupel File:Schneeflocke wird zu Graupel 2.jpg, Almost graupel File:Schneeflocke3.jpg, Graupel in shape of snowflake

References

External links

Dictionaries

3 results for:graupel
Dictionary.com, accessed September 12, 2006.
Graupel
''Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary'', accessed September 12, 2006.

Weather glossaries

The Weather Channel, accessed September 12, 2006.

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221224646/http://nsidc.org/snow/glossary.html , date=2014-02-21 . National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), accessed September 12, 2006.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), accessed September 12, 2006.

Weather at About.com, accessed December 21, 2008. Hail Precipitation Snow or ice weather phenomena