00:00It looks like Dippin' Dots falling from the sky.
00:03This is Graupel, sometimes called soft hail.
00:06Each little styrofoam-looking pellet starts as a snowflake.
00:10Graupel typically occurs when temperatures near the ground or above freezing,
00:14but sub-freezing air is just a few thousand feet into the sky.
00:17Inside the clouds, super-cooled water droplets collide with snow crystals.
00:21Those droplets are still liquid below freezing,
00:24but freeze onto the snowflake on contact, coating them with a new layer of ice.
00:28More droplets stick and freeze until the flake becomes a little white ball.
00:33You can spot Graupel in chilly fall showers across the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Northeast,
00:38even with temperatures in the low 40s.
00:40Why don't you hear more about it?
00:42Well, it's easily mistaken for other forms of precipitation.
00:46Graupel is smaller than hail, but larger than sleet pellets.
00:49Next time, look closely.
00:50Unlike hailstones and sleet pellets, which are hard, Graupel is soft and crumbly.
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