In the US “sleet” is the term for a winter precipitation that occurs when snow falls through a layer of warm air and melts into water droplets, then re-freezes into ice pellets as it passes through colder air closer to the ground. In many other areas that were part of the British empire that precipitation is called “ice pellets” and “sleet” instead refers to a mix of snow and rain. In the US that’s called a “wintry mix.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 51 points 9 months ago (12 children)

Come to think of it, I've never really bothered thinking about what sleet is. I've always just put it in the "you know it when you see it" category.

If I pummel my brain for what I would describe it as, I'd say it's wet, heavy snow in a wind. Like "really soft hail" I suppose.

But yeah...I never bothered. Interesting thought experiment for myself.

  • source
  • hideshow 12 child comments
  • [–] 16 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Where are you from? Based on your and OPs descriptions I’m guessing a Commonwealth country.

    Being from the U.S. I’d have described it as frozen drops of rain.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 19 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Canada.

    "Frozen drops of rain" makes sense too. I picture it as, "Imagine a raindrop hits your windshield, and instead of thunking like a raindrop, it's kind of splats like a tiny tiny snowball." That's sleet.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    In the U.S. sleet bounces off the windshield instead. I think we’d call Canadian sleet wet snow. OP said we’d call it “wintry mix” which maybe some of us would but I always thought “wintry mix” was when you were on the line between snow and rain and you just got a bit of everything; snow, sleet, slush, freezing rain, etc…

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (1 reply)
  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    If its winter, you walk outside and the precipitation is very loud and stings like hell when it hits you it's sleet.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Around here, we just call that freezing rain.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Freezing rain to me is water that freezes on impact, and it very quickly becomes a problem for trees and roofs and everything.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    It doesn't hail in the winter, and hail is larger. Hail comes down in pellets due to the fact that it's made by water droplets falling down, getting blown back up into a cold cloud, freezing, getting blown back up to freeze some more, and so on until it's heavy enough to overcome the updraft and fall to the ground. Sleet is like rain that freezes as its falling, but doesn't become the soft gentle snow, and the difference between sleet and freezing rain is that freezing rain is liquid until it hits a frozen surface.

  • source
  • parent