Graupel is in the forecast for Denver – Here’s what it is

I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life and experienced some weird weather, but today was the first time I’d ever heard a forecaster say that we may get “graupel.”

According to our partners at 9News, “Snow moves in after dark tonight (it may briefly start as rain or graupel), with the heaviest snow likely before or at dawn tomorrow morning. Highest and heaviest snow will fall west and south of Denver, where Winter Weather Advisories are in place. Light snow continues through most of the day tomorrow before we somewhat clear things out (briefly) for Thursday.”

So what the heck is graupel?!

According to the National Weather Service, graupel are soft, small pellets formed when supercooled water droplets freeze onto a snow crystal, a process called riming. If the riming is particularly intense, the rimed snow crystal can grow to an appreciable size, but remain less than 0.2 inches.

So in easier to under stand terms, graupel is basically like a mix between hail and snow…soft hail or tiny little snow pellets.