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What is the difference between freezing rain and sleet?

Freezing rain is rain that falls from a cloud as a liquid but turns to ice on contact with a freezing object. It forms a smooth ice coating called glaze. Usually freezing rain only falls for a short time, because as the air temperature changes even slightly, freezing rain either turns to rain or to snow.

Sleet is frozen or partially frozen raindrops, in the form of ice pellets. Sleet forms as rain passes through a layer of freezing air above the ground. The rain freezes to form hard, clear, tiny ice pellets. These pellets hit the ground so fast that they bounce off with a sharp click.

In the United States, the term "sleet" refers to ice pellets. In Australia and Great Britain, however, "sleet" is defined as a mixture of rain and wet snow. Wet snow is made of partially melted snowflakes (the ice crystals on the edges of the snowflakes have...

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