It's not snow. It's not hail. The stuff around Desert Sky Mall looks like something else.

PHOENIX — Wednesday's storms across the Valley brought the presence of a snow-like substance around the area of Phoenix's Desert Sky Mall.

Residents sent 12News videos of the icy, white blotches seen in the roadways around the mall, which was forced to shut down on Wednesday after a partial roof collapse. On Thursday morning, the clumps of ice could still be found throughout the mall's parking lot.

Meteorologist Ginger Jeffries explained that the substance appears to be graupel, frozen precipitation that has the appearance of snow and hail but is a "little more slushie."

An Arizona resident can often identify these particles as graupel if it has the consistency of Dippin' Dots, Jeffries added.

Graupel is sometimes referred to as "snow pellets" or "soft hail," according to the Natio