Difference between hail and sleet..? Thank you?

Answer 1

"Hail" only happens in the summer, freezing rain, and sleet are only in the winter.

Answer 2

Hail is larger than sleet. Hail is pellets or balls of ice, and sleet is half frozen rain. I hate minnesota.

Answer 3

(L)
The Glossary of Meteorology is often a good source of information
for terms like these. The book, published by the AMS (for about $25)
was originally published in 1959 and is in its fourth printing (1986).
Though some terms are out dated, it still holds a wealth of information.
I will give the definations of the three terms you noted above (as
per the Glossary).


HAIL - Precipitation in the form of balls or irregular lumps of ice
always produced by convective clouds, nearly always
cumulonimbus. An individual unit of hail is called a hail
stone. By convention, hail has a diameter of 5mm or more
while smaller particles of similar origin, formerly called
"small hail" may be classified as either ice pellets or snow
pellets.


Thunderstroms which are characterized by strong updrafts,
large liquid water contents, large cloud-drop sizes, and
great vertical height are favorable to hail formation.


ICE PELLETS - A type of precipitation consisting of transparent
or translucent pellets of ice, 5mm or less in diameter.
They may be spherical, irregular, or (rarely) conical in
shape. Ice pellets usually bounce when hitting hard ground
and make a sound upon impact.


Now internationally recognized, ice pellets includes two
basically different types of precipitation, those which
are known in the United States as (a) SLEET and (b) SMALL
HAIL. Thus a two part defination is given:


(1) SLEET OR GRAINS OF ICE - Generally transparent, globular,
solid grains of ice which have formed from the freezing
of raindrops or the refreezing of largely melted snow
flakes when falling through a below-freezing layer of
air near the earth's surface.


(2) SMALL HAIL - generally translucent particles, consisting
of snow pellets encased in a thin layer of ice. The
ice layer may form either by the accretion of the
droplets upon the snow pellet, or by the melting and
refreezing of the surface of the snow pellet.



>> Some comments:


1) The primary difference between Sleet/IP and hail is that hail
originates from a convective cloud while sleet typically results
from non convective cloud. This is not to say that sleet cannot
occur from convective cloud but the formation process is
considerably different. For example, in OK a few years ago we
had a severe thunderstorm with nickel size "HAIL" with a temp.
of near 20 degrees (F). All the precipitation was sleet although
there was hail also mixed in.

2) Again related to the formation process....sleet/ip form from
melted snow or water droplets FALLING through a layer of freezing
temperatures near the earth's surface. It can occur with surface
temperatures above freezing as long as the precipitation falls
through a layer of sub-freezing temperatures just above the surface.


Hail forms from repeated accelerations up and down in the updrafts
and downdrafts of convective clouds. Typically above and below
the freezing level. The greater the updraft, the longer the
hail can be suspended, the more trips up and down it can sustain,
and the larger the hail (for the most part). Hail can form in
conditions which are completely below freezing given that
supercooled water is present in the cloud (hence how we get hail
in winter time convective events).


3) The Glossary notes that thunderstorm must have "great vertical
height". However, this is not necessarily true. The profile
of the atmosphere is what is important! As long as the storm's
top is sufficiently above the freezing level and updrafts in the
convective cloud are sufficient to suspend particles above the
freezing level, hail will be produced. This is why storm top
may not be the best indicator of the severity of a storm. You
can get severe hail (greater than 3/4") from a storm with 30K ft
tops in the cool season in OK, yet may not get severe hail from
a 50K ft topped thunderstorm in south Texas in summer.


*** I am not a cloud physisist and do not claim to be....just wanted to
interject some comments and observations.


*** Also, the NWS tried to move away from the term "Sleet" several years
ago however has gone away from avoiding to use the term since it is
so familiar with the general populous where it frequently occurs.
Sleet is never reported in a SAO

Answer 4

Hail comes in warm weather and a cloud passes through a pocket of cold air and the water freezes in the cloud, before hitting the ground frozen, what's left that didn't melt coming down. Sleet comes in cold weather, starts out as rain in the cloud, and freezes as it falls and hits the ground frozen.

Answer 5

Sleet is a mixture of snow and rain, hail is hard pellets of ice.

Answer 6

Hail is lumps of ice that have formed in a cumulonimbus cloud.

Sleet is partly melted snow.

Answer 7

hail is frozen chunks of ice that build up like the layers of an onion as water is repeatedly frozen as it is lifted and falls within a storm cloud.

sleet is freezing rain or semi melted snow, some people call it "stinging rain"

Answer 8

hail is ice stones & sleet is slushy ice rain

Answer 9

temperature and conditions which moisture must pass through