© Akihito Umehara
Aomori-ken, Aomori-shi, Ōtani, Kotani, Japan
Latitude: 40° 44' 17'' N
Longitude: 140° 41' 19'' E
15 February 2013 1642 (Local Time)
Image P/S code: P.11.2.6
Image I.D.: 4953
Snow grains are very small, opaque white particles of ice that fall from a cloud (usually Stratus or fog). The particles are fairly flat or enlongated and their diameter is generally less than 1 mm. These snow grains fell from freezing fog when the air temperature was –2 °C.
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Snow grains are a precipitation of very small, opaque white particles of ice that fall from a cloud (usually Stratus or fog). The grains in this picture fell from Stratus cloud with a temperature below 0 °C; the cloud base was around 250 m (800 ft).
Snow grain particles are fairly flat or elongated. Their diameter is generally less than 1 mm; this is illustrated by the ruler at the bottom of the picture, where each small graduation is 1 mm. They are essentially the frozen equivalent of drizzle. When grains hit hard ground, they do not bounce.
Links in the image description will highlight features on the image. Mouse over the features for more detail.