I first heard the term about four years ago in the great lakes region. It seemed lighter than sleet. Like tiny lightly packed snowballs.
Rain: water drops Freezing rain: rain that freezes on contact with objects Drizzle: a fine spray of tiny almost invisible water drops that wets Fog: a very fine cloud of tiny water drops that usually doesn't wet Mist: fog lying close to the ground Snow: large flakes of frozen water crystals Ice crystals: individual crystals of frozen water Sleet: a mix of rain and snow Hail: large lumps of frozen water Ice pellets: small pellets of ice Snow pellets: small pellets of dense snow
Uh… we call it Schneeregen.
My apologies... the weather lady said it's a German word meaning 'hail.'
Based on that, I was laughing my ass off at the thought of using the phrase "sieg gropple."
I know, "hail"=/= "hail," and gropple=/= graupel... and now I learn that graupel=/=hail.
So basically, I laughed my ass off yesterday for no good reason at all.
That’s funny! I’ve noticed the same with weather people around here too. 1 starts saying it and the others follow like lemmings.
and hail is 'hagel'
The National Weather Service started using it not that long ago. I'm not sure why, no one knows what it means.
I'll have to leave work early today because of the level 2 Graupel emergency.
Then go home and get out my graupel blower.
Maybe in the morning we'll have a graupel-ball fight with the neighbors.
I don't watch/listen to local weather, but graupel is in my vocabulary. Its unique
Some weather geeks on TV began using it a few years ago. Perhaps they got it from the Eskimos.
It's been a word in use for decades, and it's not hail. I suspect maybe just your local weatherman just learned it.
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