Sleet is a regionally variant term for some
meteorological phenomena
This glossary of meteorology is a list of terms and concepts relevant to meteorology and atmospheric science, their sub-disciplines, and related fields.
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Ice pellets
Ice pellets are a form of precipitation consisting of small, hard, translucent balls of ice. Ice pellets are different from graupel ("soft hail") which is made of frosty white opaque rime, and from a mixture of rain and snow which is a slushy ...
, pellets of ice composed of frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes (United States)
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Rain and snow mixed
Rain and snow mixed is precipitation composed of a mixture of rain and partially melted snow. Unlike ice pellets, which are hard, and freezing rain, which is fluid until striking an object where it fully freezes, this precipitation is soft and t ...
, snow that partially melts as it falls (UK, Ireland, Canada, and most Commonwealth countries)
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Glaze, a smooth coating of ice formed on objects by freezing rain.
See also
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Freezing rain
Freezing rain is rain maintained at temperatures below freezing by the ambient air mass that causes freezing on contact with surfaces. Unlike a mixture of rain and snow or ice pellets, freezing rain is made entirely of liquid droplets. The raind ...
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Ice storm
An ice storm, also known as a glaze event or a silver storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain. The U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least of ice on ex ...
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Graupel
Graupel (; ), also called soft hail, hominy snow, or snow pellets, is precipitation that forms when supercooled water droplets in air are collected and freeze on falling snowflakes, forming balls of crisp, opaque rime.
Graupel is distinct from ...
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Snow
Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...
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Hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...
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