Saturday was an interesting day, WeatherWise

As the amount of water in the air increased and a cold front raced across southern Colorado, we experienced a wide range of weather conditions (Saturday, 3/7).

Wind gusts were over 50 mph in some areas (not surprising), temperatures fell by 15 degrees over Friday's readings (again, no big deal here), there were bursts of snow, that in most cases didn't last very long, and at the same time that many of us were dealing with wintry weather, thunderstorms were rumbling across the eastern Plains.

Yoder and Ellicott reported thunder and lightning, and in the middle of the morning, a tornado warning was issued for Baca county after various observers reported funnel clouds.

Fortunately, at this point, no damage or injuries reported, but it's a wake-up call that we're getting into the season when we need to be even more weather-aware.

One of the phenomena I saw on the west side of Colorado Springs was "graupel". You've probably seen it before too. It's either hard snow or soft hail. You often see it as little pellets coming from a snowstorm that crunch or go to powder when they hit the ground.

As we get into thunderstorm season (soon), you'll be able to tell the difference between hail and graupel by picking up a piece and trying to crush it with your fingers. If you can crush it, it's graupel, if not, it's hail.