Is It Hail, Sleet, Or Graupel? Unusual Precipitation Hits Tulsa

The weather has gotten really weird in Tulsa.  Some kind of frozen precipitation is falling on the city and northeastern Oklahoma.  The question is, exactly what kind?

"Anything is possible, I suppose," said News On 6 meteorologist Dick Faurot, who believes most of it is hail.  However, he says it could be sleet.  "If it is sleet, it's very large sleet."

Faurot says he doesn't believe it's graupel, also called soft hail or snow pellets, because it's bouncing.  Faurot says graupel is usually slushy, "and when it hits something it just splatters."

The frozen precipitation that's falling is bouncing, just like hail.

Even so, if it is hail, Faurot says it's a rare event.  "To have hail without thunder is highly unusual." 

Read Dick Faurot's weather blog.

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