Excuuuse all of us who thought it's been snowing in Phoenix this afternoon.
According to the weather Nazis -- by "weather Nazis," we mean every meteorologist in the Valley, as well as the National Weather Service -- it's some substance called "graupel" that's dropping in Phoenix.
To our dismay, this is not a made-up word that our goofy local weathermen are using -- this appears to check out.
"With the low freezing levels...these showers will be capable of producing small ice pellets known as graupel, similar to hail and sleet," according to a statement from the National Weather Service. "These ice pellets could also cause roads to become slick in isolated spots.
The National Weather Service in Phoenix says the "graupel showers" -- a phrase we're committed to never using again -- will continue in Phoenix through the "PM commute," which sounds a lot like, around 6 or 7 or something, maybe.
Whatever, dudes. It does appear to actually be snowing just about everywhere else, though.
Tucson has been getting actual snow today, so much that the Accenture Match Play Championship in Marana, which features many of the big names in golf, was canceled due to the Arizona equivalent of a shit-load of snow.
And, as you would expect, Flagstaff's getting a bunch of snow, too, but so are higher-elevation places around the Valley.
Below, check out the picture below from the Arizona Department of Transportation, of the Superstition Mountains, which was taken from Mesa.
With that, we're done talking about the weather for the next month. Enjoy your "graupel."
UPDATE 4:06 p.m.: One last point -- how is this not snow? This is the Loop 101 and Via de Ventura in Scottsdale:
