Sleet

Whereas hail forms within clouds, sleet begins as snow falling to earth after having left its originating cloud. The snow partially melts on its trip down in a layer of warm air but then refreezes into ice crystals that appear much like hail.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sleet is also used colloquially for rain mixed with some frozen droplets.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the British Isles, sleet refers to precipitation which is a mixture of snow and rain.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• freezing rain
• hail
• ice storm
• wintry showers

Hail: Hail is a type of graupel (a form of precipitation) composed of spears or irregular lumps of ice. It occurs when supercooled water droplets (remaining in a liquid state despite being below the freezing point, 0 ?C/32 ?F) in a storm cloud aggregates around some solid object, such as a dust particle ...

Snow: Snow is precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes. Since it is composed of small rough particles it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by external pressure....

Rain: : For other uses see Rain (disambiguation)....