Wednesday word: graupel

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graupel: [grou-puh l]

Another weather term.  Not quite sleet, not quite snow, not quite hail.  Graupel is a small, soft white ice particle that falls as precipitation and breaks apart easily when it is handled or lands on a surface. Also called snow pellets or soft hail. It is formed when cold droplets of water freeze onto a falling snowflake.


Origin: 1885-90. German: diminutive of Graupe meaning hulled grain