Hail? Snow!? Winter storm front brings graupel to areas of Sacramento — here’s the difference
Was that graupel or hail that fell Wednesday afternoon in Sacramento? The National Weather Service said it’s hard to tell, but both were reported in the southern Sacramento Valley as a strong winter storm move into the capital region.
Scott Rowe, a meteorologist with the weather service, said he would have to look at images of each instance of graupel or hail that reportedly fell Wednesday in Sacramento, Elk Grove and parts of Yolo, Placer and El Dorado counties.
“Graupel is a lot softer, and hail can come in rounder shapes and larger sizes,” Rowe said.
Graupel — also called soft hail or snow pellets — consists of fragile, cooled water droplets that form when snowflakes are coated with ice. Once it reaches our yards, the opaque, white precipitation easily falls apart and is smaller than hail, according to the National Oceanic and Atomospheric Administration.
The texture of graupel is soft and wet; what appears to be ice pellets. It forms when it’s very cold aloft but there are above freezing temperatures at the surface.
Rowe it’s also common to see hail during strong shower systems. Hail is frozen raindrops of ice from thunderstorms that form in strong uplifting wind then fall before melting. The texture for hail is hard and solid.
Which will melt faster after it hits the ground? Rowe said it depends on the size and the temperature at the time. About 3:30 p.m., the temperature was in the low 50s throughout Sacramento.
Have received reports of frozen precipitation making it to the ground in the Sacramento Metro this afternoon.
With temperatures in the low 50s, this is a graupel and/or hail mixture, not snow.
If it's soft/wet, it's graupel.
If it's hard/solid, it's hail.
More info ️ #CAwx pic.twitter.com/pT9QtPBwKw— NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) February 22, 2023
Some stronger cells and isolated thunderstorms on Wednesday could produce small accumulating graupel and hail in the Valley, along with periods of heavy graupel and snow in elevations over 1,000 to 2,000 feet into Wednesday evening, according to the weather service in Sacramento.
There are chances of flurries in Sacramento before 9 a.m. Thursday, according to the weather service. But it’s unlikely you will see much, if any. The last time there was measurable snowfall in Sacramento was 1976. Thunderstorms, rain, high wind and chilling morning temperatures, however, are a pretty sure thing for Sacramento this week.
The Bee’s Brianna Taylor contributed to this story.
