All About Weather Patterns: Different Types of Percipitation

What is rain?

Rain is when water (liquid) falls from clouds. Rain is a type of precipitation. Precipitation is any kind of water that falls from clouds. Rain is part of the water cycle

Snow is always pretty to look at and fun to play in, but how is snow made?

When water vapor or water in a gaseous form in the air freezes before it can be turned into water. This happens when the temperature in the clouds is VERY cold.

What is sleet and how is it different than hail?

Sleet are frozen (solid) ice pellets and usually smaller than hail. Sleet is formed by the freezing of rain drops as they fall through a layer of cold air. It is different than hail because it occurs during thunderstorms when rain drops actually go into higher and colder areas of the atmosphere where they freeze into ice. Hail is also bigger than sleet.

What is hail?

Hail is clumps of ice (solid) that falls out of a storm cloud.