What is this stuff falling from the sky?

March 01, 2006

What is this stuff falling from the sky?

I am sure you all know the apocryphal story about the Eskimo having dozens of words for snow.

Here's the thing: I don't know how to describe the stuff that's been falling out of the sky over the last couple of days.

It's not icy enough for sleet; not fluffy enough for snow, and too small for hail. In fact it reminds me of nothing more than polystyrene packing granules: a notion I'm rapidly disabused of as soon as I walk on it.

Perhaps I can come up with an alternative name. Sneet, maybe? Or perhaps slow. Whatever. All I know is that for the moment, it means my seedlings need to stay tucked up in the warm.

1 Mar 2006 21:50:03 | Me me me

3 Comments

The white stuff looks to me like what we call graupel or "soft hail". I don't think I would normally expect to see it in Britain!

Great blog. Hope you're feeling better.

Posted by: Ed Engle | March 03, 2006 at 01:44 PM

hi ed

I am feeling considerably better, thanks for asking. Graupel - what a great word! Where do you "hail" from? (boom boom!)

Posted by: Jane Perrone | March 04, 2006 at 08:55 PM

Hi Jane:
I live in Iowa in the US but grew up in Colorado. We sometimes see this type of precipitation in both places. I lived for a year in the Isle of Man (back in the early 70s), and have a difficult time thinking of the weather getting cold enough for this type of hail in Britain! Here, of course, we get very cold in winter. The lowest I've experienced was -33 F. So I'm a bit jealous of folks who can put plants out (protected) in February! I won't be able to transplant my tomatoes until at least late April.

Posted by: Ed Engle | March 06, 2006 at 05:23 PM

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