What is this weather? Not hail, not snow?

Question

Right now, there is a really weird storm outside. At first I thought it was hail, because it bounced off the ground, but then my brother noticed that it was falling slower than hail. So we went outside and caught some in our hands. It's definitely not hail, because they're not ice pellets - but it's not snow, because it bounces! It's like little snow-pellets!

What would it be called?

Answer 1

Could be ice pellets.

Answer 2

Graupel? Like round pellets of snow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graupel has more information. It's a little like when polystyrene packaging gets rubbed on a wall and turns into little balls of plastic, but this is snow. Spherical snow.

Answer 3

wow.... i have no clue, thats pretty weird... maybe bounce hail?

Answer 4

Sleet is NOT hail. Please remember that! Sleet and hail are entirely different things. What you are describing is sleet. Sleet is common in cold weather when the temperature is just above freezing. Hail usually falls in warm summer weather. They may look superficially similar but they form under very different conditions.

I don't get why so many people mix up sleet and hail.

By the way, snow in April is not unusual in Canada and the northern U.S. I don't understand what your global warming remark has to do with it. If it was snowing in summer, then yeah it would be odd. It's not summer yet. It's spring, and snow in spring is quite common.

Don't believe me? Tell me where you live, and I can look up past weather data and tell you whether it is unusual or not. The definition of unusual is something that is more than two standard deviations away from the mean. Something 'highly unusual' would be more than three standard deviations away.

I live in Canada and we don't get heavy snows in winter. It's too cold and dry. Fall and spring are very good seasons for powerful snowstorms because of the warmth and moisture. As a matter of fact, the last four or five Aprils were unusually warm and dry. We were long overdue for a good April snowstorm. I don't recall anyone complaining about those unusually balmy Aprils, because people only like to focus on the negative aspects of the weather.

Answer 5

Sleet

Answer 6

i would have said sleet too.

think maybe you just descibe it different.