雹 [ひょう] (esp. hail balls 5mm or greater)
霰 [あられ] (esp. hail balls under 5 mm)
Is this distinction really being made, or is one of these two words
(almost) never used ? Could you maybe provide me with some examples if
there are some additional subtleties.
The size of the frozen substance from the sky, we don't know, but I think we've been differentiating them by how strong they are, and how the word sounds like; 霰{あられ} sounds lighter like the cute tiny baked riceballs for snacking, and 雹{ひょう} sounds stronger to us in some reason.
But when an established dictionary defines something, we can expect it to have been officially defined by somewhere has the authority.
There's also 霙{みぞれ}, and it's said that it's a mixture of rain and snow. I relate it with shaved ice with sweet syrup, and these applications of the word are both so true to me that I wonder which use came to the world first.