PORTLAND, Ore. — Some areas around Portland got a surprise storm with hail and graupel on Wednesday afternoon.
What's the difference? Here's how NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory explains the difference between hail and graupel:
Hail is a form of precipitation that occurs when updrafts in thunderstorms carry raindrops upward into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere where they freeze into ice. To be considered hail, the frozen precipitation pieces must have a diameter greater than 5mm (.20”).
Graupel (a.k.a. soft hail or snow pellets) are soft small pellets of ice created when supercooled water droplets coat a snowflake.