Vocabulary is an indicator of cultural importance of an object - look at the multiple words in Japanese for the singular English “rice,” or the multiple English words for the Japanese singular 牛 (“cow” being most common). “Snow” is another example. Growing up in Los Angeles, snow was not of particularly importance, but at my Maine college, it was. Such words are commonly divided into falling-type and accumulated-type.
Tonight, downtown, we have graupel (arare, あられ、霰 ), which occurs when freezing fog condenses on a snowflake - conditions which occur when it’s cold enough to snow above but not quite below. It is also known as snow pellets or soft hail.
Another useful word is slush (mizuyuki, みずゆき、水雪), a half-melted form of snow on the ground. Tomorrow will likely be very slushy; fortunately, I don’t have to travel.
Other English words for different snow types can be found here. Enjoy! - William
