Sleet

                      SLEET

   

    Sleet is made up of a translucent ball of frozen raindrops. Sleet forms when the layer of subfreezing air ( colder than the temperature at which water freezes) in the atmosphere deep enough to freeze.

     

    The difference between freezing rain and sleet is very minimal. When sleet hits the ground (or any surface), it bounces off unlike freezing rain which covers a surface with a sheet of ice. Instead sleet covers a flat surface with millions of tiny ice pellets.

    Both snow and sleet can fall at any temperature below 32 F and when the air beneath the cloud is dry. If this happens, the rain partly evaporates as it falls. Then the evaporation cools the particles enough to keep them frozen all the way to the ground. Sleet is particularly resilient against melting.