Dan Robinson
The ASOS in Charleston was reporting this as small hail a few minutes ago:
Thought that was a little unusual.
Thought that was a little unusual.
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Joel Wright
EF5
I almost wonder if because the sleet pellets are larger than normal? Just judging by the picture it looks like those are some healthy sleet pellets. Although not that unusual, they do look a bit larger than average.
Either that or I've had too much coffee this morning lol.
Either that or I've had too much coffee this morning lol.
rdale
EF5
It was an automated observation, so some algorithm determined that...
Darin Brunin
EF5
O Rly? Since he stated that it was from an ASOS, I am pretty sure he already knew that. No need to be Mr. Smart Guy in this situation Mr. Dale.
rdale
EF5
Darin PM'ed me for more info, so I'll answer here in case anyone else has questions...
Almost every METAR is based on an automated system. A02 is completely automatic. A02A means that there is a human there to QC and possibly augment the observation. Depending on the level of service at the corresponding airport, it can range from just making sure things are going out well (i.e. 'babysitting') to adding in additional cloud layers / precip types / snowfall amounts etc. There's a list on the FAA site which indicates the service levels.
Almost every METAR is based on an automated system. A02 is completely automatic. A02A means that there is a human there to QC and possibly augment the observation. Depending on the level of service at the corresponding airport, it can range from just making sure things are going out well (i.e. 'babysitting') to adding in additional cloud layers / precip types / snowfall amounts etc. There's a list on the FAA site which indicates the service levels.
Karen Politte
EF5
Strengely enough, in the UK (at least in my region LOL) they report sleet as hail. I grew up calling *any* round pellet from the sky hail. It rarely came from thunderstorms.
"Sleet" in the sense of the word where I come from is regarded as a wet rain-snow mix. Don't hit me.
KL
"Sleet" in the sense of the word where I come from is regarded as a wet rain-snow mix. Don't hit me.
KL
MatthewCarman
Dan were you in the exact location the hail was being reported? What was the weather you were recieving? (wintery mix or thunderstorms?)
davecarlsen
EF0
Strengely enough, in the UK (at least in my region LOL) they report sleet as hail. I grew up calling *any* round pellet from the sky hail. It rarely came from thunderstorms.
"Sleet" in the sense of the word where I come from is regarded as a wet rain-snow mix. Don't hit me.
KL
Here in Canada, too. "Sleet" is a mix of rain and snow. What Americans call "sleet", we call "ice pellets".
Put otherwise, in Canada (METAR):
PL = ice pellets
RASN = sleet/mix of rain and snow
So you're not alone, Karen.
