ice pellets
Tiny frozen raindrops
Ice pellets are small, translucent balls of ice that fall as precipitation—essentially frozen raindrops.
They form when rain or partially melted snowflakes refreeze before reaching the ground.
Ice pellets bounce when they hit hard surfaces, distinguishing them from sleet's softer cousin, freezing rain.
In American usage, ice pellets and sleet are often interchangeable: The forecast calls for ice pellets tonight.
- freezing rainPrecipitation forming ice on surfaces
- graupelIce-coated snow pellets
- hailIcy precipitation pellets
- hailstoneFrozen precipitation sphere
- frozen precipitationIce falling from sky
wintry mix · bouncing · pelting · pinging · snow · precipitation · frozen · cold front · winter weather · weather advisory · slipperiness · hazardous conditions · road salt · salt trucks · winter storm · chill · hydrometeor · weather
- ice and snowicicle, glacier, hail, sleet, snowflake
- precipitationrain, snow, hail, drizzle, sleet
- Hailstormshail, hail warning, graupel, supercell, cumulonimbus
- winter coldsnowstorm, snow, cold front, arctic air, frost
- winter weatherblizzards, blizzard, snow, snowstorm, snowstorms
- ice stormsfreezing rain, sleet, winter advisory, flash freeze, icicles