Looking out the window in winter, the day may be rainy, snowy, or icy.  These are just some of the many adjectives we use in Pennsylvania to describe a winter’s day. But what makes it snow versus sleet or freezing rain? It all has to do with the air around us…check this out.

Snow: Snow happens when the air is below freezing from the cloud all the way to the ground. The flakes fall out of the cloud and land on the ground as snowflakes. We have snow, easy-peasy!

Sleet: Sleet is a frozen raindrop. Sleet forms when the snowflake falls from the cloud and then melts into a raindrop as it falls to the ground. If the raindrop moves back through enough freezing air before it hits the ground, the raindrop can freeze into an ice pellet. Think of a snow cone, tiny ice pellets packed together before they put that sweet syrup on it.

Freezing Rain: If sleet is frozen raindrops, then what is freezing rain? Just like in sleet, the snowflake falls from the cloud into warmer air, which melts the snowflake into a cold raindrop. If that raindrop doesn’t have time to freeze again before it lands, and it falls onto a below freezing surface such as trees or your driveway, it freezes into ice on contact – thus the name freezing rain! Think of that hard shell on a soft-serve ice cream. They dip the ice cream into liquid chocolate, and it freezes into a crunchy shell instantly due to the cold ice cream.

Rain: Once the snowflake falls out of the cloud and melts, it can’t be snow again on its trip. So, if the air stays above freezing before the raindrop hits the ground (which also is above freezing), we get plain ‘ole rain.