Comparing weather radar to high resolution lightning images, we try to learn about sparkles; small-scale lightning that flash intermittently in the top of intense thunderstorms. Near sparkles, the radar data shows much turbulence and a particular type of ice particles, called graupel. The findings support previous hypotheses regarding the physics of sparkles. Perhaps the combination of graupel and enhanced turbulence leads to small pockets of charge, which explains the small extent of sparkles.