Accretion
When an ice crystal collides with supercooled water its called accretion (or riming). Droplets freeze upon impact and can form graupel. If the graupel formed is reintroduced into the cloud by wind, it may continue to grow larger and more dense, eventually forming hail.
Read more about this topic: Bergeron Process
Famous quotes containing the word accretion:
“Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“It doesn’t matter that your painting is small. Kopecks are also small, but when a lot are put together they make a ruble. Each painting displayed in a gallery and each good book that makes it into a library, no matter how small they may be, serves a great cause: accretion of the national wealth.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)