Rain and snow mixed facts for kids

Rain and snow mixed is a type of precipitation that falls from the sky. It is a mix of rain and snow that has partly melted. In American English, this is called "rain and snow mixed." In many other countries, like the United Kingdom, it is often called "sleet."

This type of precipitation is soft and clear, but it still has small pieces of ice crystals from snowflakes that didn't fully melt. Sometimes, it can create slush on the ground. It usually happens for a short time as the weather changes from rain to snow, or from snow back to rain. The mix hits the ground before it can fully turn into just rain or just snow.

What is Rain and Snow Mixed Called?

The name for this weather can be a bit confusing! In most Commonwealth countries, like the UK, this mix of rain and partially melted snow is known as sleet.

However, in the United States, the National Weather Service uses the word sleet to mean something different. In the US, sleet refers to ice pellets, which are small, hard balls of ice. So, what is called "sleet" in the UK is called "rain and snow mixed" in the US.

How Does Rain and Snow Mixed Form?

This type of precipitation forms when the air closest to the ground is just a little bit warmer than the freezing point of water (0 °C or 32 °F).

Snow starts falling from higher up in the atmosphere where it's very cold. As the snow falls through a layer of slightly warmer air closer to the ground, it begins to melt. If this warm layer is not too thick (about 230–460 m (750–1,500 ft) deep), the snow will only partially melt. This creates the mix of rain and snow that reaches the ground. If the warm layer is thicker, the snow will melt completely and turn into just rain.

What are Wintry Showers or Wintry Mixes?

Sometimes you might hear the terms "wintry showers" or "wintry mix." These terms describe different kinds of mixed winter precipitation.

Wintry Showers (United Kingdom)

Wintry showers is a term mainly used in the United Kingdom. It describes a mix of rain, graupel (soft hail), and snow falling at the same time. This term is usually used when there isn't much snow building up on the ground. This often happens when the ground temperature is above 0 °C (32 °F). Even if the air near the ground is slightly below freezing, the ground is too warm for snow to stick.

Wintry Mix (United States)

In the United States, wintry mix usually means a combination of freezing rain, ice pellets, and snow. Unlike in the UK, this term is used when both the air and the ground are below 0 °C (32 °F). This means that some ice and snow are expected to build up on surfaces.

During a winter storm, a large area can be affected by a wintry mix. This often happens ahead of a storm system. Warm air moves north over colder air, causing snow to change into ice pellets, then freezing rain, and finally rain. The opposite can happen as a storm moves away, but it's more common for precipitation to change directly from rain to snow, or for it to stop altogether.

Images for kids

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  A small amount of slush can be produced from a mixture of rain and snow

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  This diagram shows how different temperatures in the air lead to rain, snow, or a mix of both.

See also

In Spanish: Aguanieve para niños

• Freezing rain
• Ice pellets
• Sleet
• Slush
• Winter weather