# It is snowing Dippin' Dots at my house. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357 "2008-01-28T20:32:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/1 "2008-01-28T20:32:22Z")
Seriously. It’s the weirdest thing. Little pellets of snow – not snowflakes, and definitely not hail. They’re not ice; they’re soft and you can smush 'em in your fingers. Basically, they’re tiny little snowballs. It’s hard to describe, so [there are pictures here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/17576257@N00/sets/72157603813478177). Note there’s a couple of inches of regular snow from last night, with this strange new stuff now beginning to accumulate on top of it. I know, it looks like hail, [little white spheres](http://www.flickr.com/photos/17576257@N00/2226142639/in/set-72157603813478177). But again, this is not like any hail I’ve ever seen around here (Seattle area). We expect hail to be ice-hard. When it falls, it rattles against the window. These are more like… well, like Dippin’ Dots. The pellets don’t smack the window; they tap, ever so gently. The sound across the neighborhood is a strangely soothing hiss, a wintry white noise. When you pick one up in your hand, it sits for just a second, and then dissolves. A hailstone would melt slowly; this stuff disappears like snowflakes, but delayed. So: what’s the story with this form of precipitation? ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/2 "2008-01-28T20:35:54Z")
Congratulations! You have discovered [sleet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleet)! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/3 "2008-01-28T20:40:02Z")
Interesting. Around here, we think of sleet as “slushy rain.” Apparently a broader category than we’re used to. (Where are Eskimo semantics when you need them?) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/4 "2008-01-28T20:45:54Z")
> [@](#): > > (Where are Eskimo semantics when you need them?) “Observe the Snow. It Copulates.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/5 "2008-01-28T21:35:13Z")
I’ve seen this a lot. It’s just a different form of snow, like little bunches of flakes. And if seems to fall a little slower than regular snow. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/6 "2008-01-28T21:50:27Z")
We get that around here multiple time in the winter. They are very much like hard snow. and it also falls during colder weather in which no liquid accompanies the fall. You might get an inch of the stuff before it switches to the normal snow. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/7 "2008-01-28T22:13:56Z")
I always thought of that as proto-hail; if it bounced around some more in the atmosphere and gained some layers of ice, it would be hail. I thought sleet was freezing rain, basically. Am I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/8 "2008-01-28T22:17:54Z")
Where the heck are you? We had that yesterday. It hailed for 45 minutes, and that was weird. For one, hail seems to always be fierce and over quickly, but this kept coming. Then it snowed on top a bit. But it was like it was snowing styrofoam pellets. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/9 "2008-01-28T22:40:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Freezing rain develops as falling snow encounters a layer of warm air deep enough for the snow to completely melt and become rain. As the rain continues to fall, it passes through a thin layer of cold air just above the surface and cools to a temperature below freezing. However, the drops themselves do not freeze, a phenomena called supercooling (or forming “supercooled drops”). When the supercooled drops strike the frozen ground (power lines, or tree branches), they instantly freeze, forming a thin film of ice, hence freezing rain. > **[Freezing Rain: supercooled droplets freezing on impact](http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/cld/prcp/zr/frz.rxml)** > [@](#): > > Sleet is less prevalent than freezing rain and is defined as frozen raindrops that bounce on impact with the ground or other objects. The diagram below shows a typical temperature profile for sleet with the red line indicating the atmosphere’s temperature at any given altitude. The vertical line in the center of the diagram is the freezing line. Temperatures to the left of this line are below freezing, while temperatures to the right are above freezing. > **[Sleet: frozen raindrops that bounce on impact with the ground](http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/cld/prcp/slt.rxml)** ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/10 "2008-01-28T23:36:41Z")
slush? slurpee? slawp? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/11 "2008-01-28T23:45:42Z")
**Cervaise** is experiencing a phenomenon representing the intersection of two of modern life’s [greatest mysteries](http://www.ourstrangeworld.net/?cat=14). These things only _seem_ to melt, you know. It’s just the first step in _colonization_. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/12 "2008-01-29T00:18:19Z")
[QUOTE=Solfy] Congratulations! You have discovered [sleet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleet)! [/QUOTE] What **Cervaise** said - I’ve always understood sleet to be wet snow, or icy rain. The little dry snowballs are a phenomenon distinct from hail, snow or sleet, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/13 "2008-01-29T00:33:50Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] What **Cervaise** said - I’ve always understood sleet to be wet snow, or icy rain. The little dry snowballs are a phenomenon distinct from hail, snow or sleet, IMO. [/QUOTE] The references I’ve found indicate that the use of the word sleet for ice pellets varies by region. A google image search of “sleet” will show you more pictures of **Cervaise** ’s Dippin’ Dots. In western PA these ice balls are not uncommon. They tend to occur before or after a bout of freezing rain, and I associate them with miserable weather. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/14 "2008-01-29T02:57:01Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] So: what’s the story with this form of precipitation? [/QUOTE] Could be [graupel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graupel). ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/15 "2008-01-29T03:51:28Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] “Observe the Snow. It Copulates.” [/QUOTE] Did you construct that in your basement in your spare time? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/16 "2008-01-29T11:52:40Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] Could be [graupel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graupel). [/QUOTE] That’s what I came in here to say. Sleet (over here, at least) just means a rain/snow mix when the temperature is too warm for proper snow. (I.e. always, these days ☹ ) ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/17 "2008-01-29T15:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] But it was like it was snowing styrofoam pellets. [/QUOTE] Styrofoam pellets are exactly what they remind me of. Back when I was a frequent skier we used to call it bean-bag snow after the little balls in Bean-bag chairs. It’s a really wierd feeling sking through 8 inch deep of the things. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/18 "2008-01-29T15:52:52Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] Where the heck are you? We had that yesterday. It hailed for 45 minutes, and that was weird. For one, hail seems to always be fierce and over quickly, but this kept coming. Then it snowed on top a bit. But it was like it was snowing styrofoam pellets. [/QUOTE] :eek: Here too! And it was windy as heck! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-snowing-dippin-dots-at-my-house/435357/19 "2008-01-29T17:34:00Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] Could be [graupel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graupel). [/QUOTE] Yeah, that’s pretty much right on the money. Thanks a ton!