Wondering what 'graupel' is? Here's a quick explanation:
If a snowflake falls into an area of warm air , then it melts. If the warm air continues all the way to the ground, then the precipitation is called rain. It’s liquid precipitation. Sometimes, warm air will wedge into the atmosphere. It may just barely slice into the sky, or it may take up a good period of the flakes’ fall. You can see this example in the image above. This results in two different “wintry” conditions.
When the snowflake falls from the sky into an area of warm air, it melts into a raindrop. However, sometimes a thin layer of very cold air hugs the ground. If the rain drop enters the cold surface air the raindrop may become “supercooled." This means it doesn’t have enough time to freeze, but it’s cold enough too. Once it hits a cold object like a tree, power line, vehicle, or road, it freezes. This type of precipitation is called freezing rain.
Now, if the warm air just barely slices into the column of air the flake falls into, it has a different effect on what we see on the ground. The snowflake may melt or partially melt once it enters the warm air, and turn into a raindrop or slush. However, if it enters a period of colder air again as it continue to fall and has enough time, it will refreeze into a frozen raindrop. This isn’t the same as a snowflake, because it formed differently and its structure is different.
However, during some storms, warmer ocean air will wedge into our atmosphere. Last March , this occurred. The result? The shore saw rain, portions of Delaware, New Jersey and Philadephia saw sleet and freezing rain, and portions of the PA Suburbs and Lehigh Valley/Berks Co/Poconos saw snow! The warm air thinned as it stretched inland, and created a major ice storm for some and snow storm for others. That’s why we do neighborhood weather.
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