Dictionary:

sleet

  (slēt)

1. Precipitation consisting of generally transparent frozen or partially frozen raindrops.
2. A mixture of rain and snow or hail.
3. A thin icy coating that forms when rain or sleet freezes, as on trees or streets.

To shower sleet.

[Middle English slete, from Old English *slēte.]

Very wet snow, or a mixture of rain and snow, usually developing when temperatures are just above freezing point.

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Sleet is a term used in a variety of ways to describe precipitation intermediate between rain and snow but distinct from hail.

In the UK and Commonwealth countries

In British English and in many Commonwealth countries sleet refers to snow that has partially melted on its fall to the ground due to surrounding air that is sufficiently warm to partially melt it while falling but not warm enough to fully melt it into rain.^[1] Thus it refers to partially melted droplets, a mixture of snow and rain. It does not tend to form a layer on the ground, unless the ground has a temperature that is below freezing, when it can form a dangerous layer invisible on surfaces known as black ice (though black ice may also develop when rain freezes upon contact with the ground, known as freezing rain). COLD The METAR code for this usage is SNRA or RASN depending on how much melting has occurred.

In the United States

Close up of the ice pellets accumulated.

In American usage, sleet is a form of precipitation consisting of frozen raindrops or refrozen partially melted snowflakes, also known as ice pellets.^[2] This is often mistaken for hail, but forms in a different fashion and the individual ice pellets in sleet are usually (but not always) smaller than typical hailstones.^[3] Sleet may bounce when it hits the ground, but generally does not freeze into a solid mass unless mixed with freezing rain.

The METAR code for ice pellets is PL.

References

1. ^ Water in the atmosphere. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
2. ^ Sleet (glossary entry). Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
3. ^ Hail (glossary entry). Retrieved on 2007-03-20.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - slud, tøsne, isslag
v. intr. - være slud

Nederlands (Dutch)
natte sneeuw

Français (French)
n. - neige fondue
v. intr. - tomber de la neige fondue

Deutsch (German)
n. - Schneeregen
v. - graupeln

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (μετεωρ.) χιονόλυτο, χιονόνερο, (ψιλό) χαλάζι
v. - ρίχνω χιονόνερο

Italiano (Italian)
nevischio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - neve com chuva
v. - saraivar

Русский (Russian)
дождь со снегом, гололед

Español (Spanish)
n. - aguanieve, cellisca
v. intr. - cellisquear

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - snöblandat regn, snöglopp, snöslask, regn och hagel, isbark, isbildning
v. - bilda snöglopp

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
冰雨, 雨夹雪, 下冻雨, 下雨夹雪

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 冰雨, 雨夾雪
v. intr. - 下凍雨, 下雨夾雪

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 진눈깨비, 우빙, 도로의 살얼음
v. intr. - 진눈깨비가 내리다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 霙
v. - みぞれが降る

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مطر متجمد, قطقط (فعل) ترسل ألسماء ألقطقط‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שלג מעורב בגשם‬
v. intr. - ‮ירד שלג (מעורב בגשם)‬

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