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prettygoodwordgraupel (GROW-puhl) - n., precipitation in the form of snow pellets.
(So, first syllable rhymes with cow.) Which happens when the snowflakes get a coating of ice by passing through supercooled water. Sometimes called soft hail, because unlike all-ice hail, they can fall apart when touched. First seen in English in a 1889 weather report, adopted from German, where it was named as a diminutive of Graupe, hulled grain (esp. barley).
---L.
(So, first syllable rhymes with cow.) Which happens when the snowflakes get a coating of ice by passing through supercooled water. Sometimes called soft hail, because unlike all-ice hail, they can fall apart when touched. First seen in English in a 1889 weather report, adopted from German, where it was named as a diminutive of Graupe, hulled grain (esp. barley).
---L.
