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Last Monday we got a little preview of winter when rain showers that were forecast for the area dropped graupel instead. Dropped what?
Graupel is a snowflake coated with supercooled water droplets. Graupel falls in milky-white pellets.
When it’s falling from the sky, many people think graupel is sleet, but sleet is liquid that freezes before it hits the ground. Sleet looks like little translucent ice pellets and it bounces when it hits the ground.
We had several showers that moved through with graupel—each lasting about 10 or 15 minutes, but all of it melted quickly because the ground is still pretty warm.
Our highs will only be in the 40s(F) this week, and our first chance of snow is this Friday night. Time is running out on fall.