What Are Clouds Made Of?
6. Sleet
Sleet, as the term is used in the United States, is ice pellets that fall from the sky. These are smaller and less damaging than hail but are also formed by thunderstorms. They are formed when snowflakes melt as they pass through a warm layer and then refreeze again when they pass through a freezing layer. In some other parts of the world, sleet is the term given to a mixture of rain and snow that falls together.
This form of precipitation is very cold and also does not settle, with any flakes of snow melting the moment they touch down on the wet ground.
