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

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

Snow pellets and clouds sporadically infiltrated the halfpipe, and some skiers suggested the contest would have been called off had it not been at the tail-end of the Olympic schedule, with no backup days available.

With moist, cool air headed down Monday morning from British Columbia, some residents of Western Washington, from Lynden down to Seattle, reported seeing graupel, snowflakes, snow pellets and icy rain.

Stunned with cold, I stared into the rising steam, my damp hair stiffening into icy dreads and sharp snow pellets stinging my cheeks and my naked calves.