In the US “sleet” is the term for a winter precipitation that occurs when snow falls through a layer of warm air and melts into water droplets, then re-freezes into ice pellets as it passes through colder air closer to the ground. In many other areas that were part of the British empire that precipitation is called “ice pellets” and “sleet” instead refers to a mix of snow and rain. In the US that’s called a “wintry mix.”

  • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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    13 hours ago

    From Ohio, and to me sleet is several things

    Wet snow/rain mix

    Tiny frozen spheres that aren’t big enough to be called hail

    Snow/tiny hail mix

    Any combination of the three, really.

    Mostly it boils down to “not snow or rain or hail”, and “wintry mix” is something I never heard until adulthood.