[Will]

I had graupel earlier this morning.
It kept fluctuating back and forth between that an big snowflakes.
Luckily we never made the transition to zr. I just drove east of here towards Madawaska and they do have zr...plain snow here, again.

[Scott]

Graupel is right up there with sleet. The world would be a better place without it.

[Jebman]

I can remember a wonderful winter's day way, way back when I was only in the fourth grade. We had to go to school because they called for flurries. So I was a walker and I walked to school, it was only about half a mile away from my home then. Yeah, we got flurries alright.

We got five inches of "graupel flurries". They had to close school (Remember I live in NE Virginia, where the school authorities lose it every time it snows, and the VDOT tries to clear the roads but its plows get stuck in the snow ROFLMAO!!!!) and I walked home in five inches of graupel snow. Graupel looks like millions of white balls, it makes for terrific snowballs. But I had just gotten a pair of new shoes and when I got home I caught HELL and then some for getting my shoes all wet. I didn't take my boots 'cuz the so-called weather service here called for flurries.

Yeah I know what graupel snow is, we had that graupel snowstorm a few years back...........

[Indigo]

eekuasepinniW, on Dec 11 2004, 02:09 PM, said:

Graupel is right up there with sleet.  The world would be a better place without it.

Agreed. Graupel is a precursor and one of the warning signs that the shaft is imminent. It means the upper levels are warming up via screaming S/SE winds and it's only a matter of time before the inevitable changeover/shaft comes. Hoping to escape the changeover/shaft once graupel is sighted is like hoping the sun won't rise the next day.. it's futile.. the dreaded ping of that first sleet pellet on the window will happen, like it or not, and another potential snowstorm will quickly deteriorate into a screw job.

[aslkahuna]

Here it's the other way around as graupel is a common occurrence with the convective snow bursts we get with cold frontal passages and it's interesting to hear thunder while it's falling at a heavy rain.

Steve
:alien:

[Sickman]

Indigo, on Dec 11 2004, 02:51 PM, said:

Agreed. Graupel is a precursor and one of the warning signs that the shaft is imminent. It means the upper levels are warming up via screaming S/SE winds and it's only a matter of time before the inevitable changeover/shaft comes. Hoping to escape the changeover/shaft once graupel is sighted is like hoping the sun won't rise the next day.. it's futile.. the dreaded ping of that first sleet pellet on the window will happen, like it or not, and another potential snowstorm will quickly deteriorate into a screw job.

How fitting that the March '01 "superstorm" started here with graupel showers.

[JamieO]

You have not lived until you have had a big bowl of graupel. Mmmm. M is for mmmmm, and g if for graupel.

[Will]

Indigo, on Dec 11 2004, 02:51 PM, said:

Agreed. Graupel is a precursor and one of the warning signs that the shaft is imminent. It means the upper levels are warming up via screaming S/SE winds and it's only a matter of time before the inevitable changeover/shaft comes. Hoping to escape the changeover/shaft once graupel is sighted is like hoping the sun won't rise the next day.. it's futile.. the dreaded ping of that first sleet pellet on the window will happen, like it or not, and another potential snowstorm will quickly deteriorate into a screw job.

Last year, during the storm that dropped 25+ inches of snow...the temperature was in the low twenties and all of a sudden we mixed with graupel. Within ten minute we were getting snow rates of over 3 inches an hour.

Today, as well, we had graupel...and it never changed to sleet or zr. Just the occasional graupel.

[aslkahuna]

Here's a video frame capture of the graupel phase of a convective snowburst in Sierra Vista in February 2001.

Steve
:alien:

Attached File(s)

•  febsno.jpg (34.3K)
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[Sickman]

Isn't graupel associated with convective forces?

[gravitylover]

Sickman, on Dec 11 2004, 04:19 PM, said:

Isn't graupel associated with convective forces?

Graupel can be nice to ski on :D It usually creates a weak layer in the snowpack though and that will be like ball bearings if the terrain is avie prone. Bottom line is ANY frozen precip is better than plain rain.

[Indigo]

Will, on Dec 11 2004, 04:14 PM, said:

Last year, during the storm that dropped 25+ inches of snow...the temperature was in the low twenties and all of a sudden we mixed with graupel. Within ten minute we were getting snow rates of over 3 inches an hour.

Today, as well, we had graupel...and it never changed to sleet or zr. Just the occasional graupel.

Ok, so it's not a bad sign for your area, but from my experience it sure is one for mine. I can't remember any time we've had graupel here and have NOT had a changeover that ruined the event.

[aslkahuna]

Yes, graupel is most often associated with convective activity and is frequently observed during thundersnow.

Steve