What is the difference between SLEET and FREEZING RAIN....? The weather channel SAYS there is a DIFFERENCE...HELP...?
by 
BillyGEE
ANSWERS: 5
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Sleet is actually frozen raindrops falling from the sky. Freezing rain comes down a liquid but freezes pretty much on contact with the ground.
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It has to do with when the precipitation freezes, at what point between the cloud and the ground. Sleet freezes higher up in the sky, freezing rain comes down as rain but freezes in the lower atmosphere when it hits the ground or any object which is at or below 32F
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It depends on what country your weather office is in. in the USA, sleet and freezing rain are the same thing. In Canada, sleet is snow mixed with rain.
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Where I come from. (Michigan, USA) Sleet is a mix of snow and hail. The precipitation comes down as a solid. The temperature at ground level can be above or below freezing. Freezing rain is rain that falls where the temperature is below freezing at ground level. The air higher up is warm, so the precipitation falls as rain but then freezes because of the colder air at ground level. This is when everything gets covered with ice and trees and power lines fall down.
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Sleet is a raindrop which freezes solid on the way down. Sleet is also sometimes called ice pellets. Freezing rain has two major types. In one type, the raindrop is cold and it freezes when it hits a surface which is below freezing. A more dangerous type of freezing rain occurs with supercooled water drops. These droplets cool to below 32 degrees, but do not freeze due to the surface tension of the droplet. These supercooled droplets freeze on contact, even if the surface it hits is a degree or two above freezing.
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