soft hail

Graupel, also known as snow pellets or soft hail, forms when water droplets freeze onto a snow crystal, according to the National Weather Service.

As to whether it was snow or graupel — soft hail — meterologist Lisa Phillips, with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said she couldn’t confirm without seeing it in person.

Graupel is also called snow pellets or soft hail, as the graupel particles are particularly fragile and generally disintegrate when handled.

There was even a dusting of snow or graupnel — a sort of soft hail — Thursday morning in the hills near the Hollywood sign, although it quickly vanished.

In between, there’s graupel—a kind of soft hail.