During inclement weather, you may see some ice pellets falling from the sky and wonder whether you’re seeing sleet or hail. There’s a huge difference in how those two ice types develop.

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Winter storms can bring all sorts of precipitation: snow, sleet, hail, freezing rain or even plain old rain. Why so much variety? The answer involves temperature changes as the precipitation falls.

When water falls from a cloud, it is precipitation. Liquid precipitation is rain or freezing rain. If the drops are smaller ...

These ice pellets often resemble rock salt and bounce upon impact. Unlike hail— which only forms in thunderstorms—sleet is part of the wintry mix we often see this time of year. While sleet ...

THE Met Office has issued a weather warning for ice tomorrow as a -1°C chill sweeps across the UK. A yellow warning covers ...

MET Eireann have warned that the “fridge door opening” is set to bring a spell of -2C nights later this week. Temperatures ...

Frozen precipitation is snow if it is crystallized and sleet if it is chunky. Hail is larger than sleet and is formed in the high tower of a thunderstorm updraft. Finally, graupel, which looks ...