Graupel

There was a little precipitation in the air this morning, just before our cable connection to the outside world arrived. It wasn't snow, exactly, but graupel:


For the uninitiated, graupel is "a form of precipitation which looks like round pellets. Graupel is subject to rolling and can collect in pockets. It can also form a layer with a great deal of pore space and poor bonding. The pellets themselves are snowflakes which accumulated rime ice as they fell through certain atmospheric layers."

So, there: new year, new word.

(Thanks to the Avalanche Center for the definitions, and also to Alice Gilborn for expanding my vocabulary in the first place, many years ago!)