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Rain and snow mixed is a very different phenomenon. It consists of mixed rain and (partially melted) snow, not small ice balls like
ice pellets (see
link to AMS Glossary).--
Carnby (
talk) 13:05, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
Ice pellet precipitation is called "hail" in England.
Peterkingiron (
talk)
17:24, 27 June 2008 (UTC)reply
Ice pellets and hail are not the same thing (I'm British). Hail has METAR code "GR" (or "GS" if small) while ice pellets are "PL". Ice pellets are very unusual in the UK in any case, while hail is quite common, so confusion is unlikely to arise.
81.159.58.45 (
talk)
03:36, 4 November 2008 (UTC)reply
"Rain and snow mixed" vs. "Wintry showers"
In my opinion, there should be only one article: the AMS glossary has no entry for "wintry shower" or "wintry mix", so it might be better to transfer the article
here or, if you prefer, to "wintry mix" which sounds better than "wintry shower(s)".--
Carnby (
talk)
15:54, 27 June 2008 (UTC)reply
British weather forecasters use the term "Wintry showers" as an omnibus word to cover snow showers and sleet showers. I wouldvote for this article being renamed "Sleet", which is the English word for this, a common phenomienon in our Atlantic climate in Britain. If it means something different in America, that can be dealt with in a hat note.
Peterkingiron (
talk)
17:20, 27 June 2008 (UTC)reply
Another solution would be to merge
Rain and snow mixed (which seems to be the technical word for a mixed precipitation, at least according to the American Meteorological Society) and
Wintry showers to "Wintry shower" (without -s, following
Wikipedia rules). But maybe it isn't suitable because not all rain/snow mixed precipitations are actually showers.--
Carnby (
talk)
17:56, 27 June 2008 (UTC)reply
Contradiction
"Professional meteorologists tend to shy away from using the term under any circumstances, but radio and television weather reporters use it regularly" - as far as I am aware, most/all BBC weatherpeople are professional meteorologists.
81.159.62.0 (
talk)
00:12, 28 November 2008 (UTC)reply
I'm from the US
And, as per my experience, we say sleet all the time. Sometimes you hear "mix of rain and snow" but for the most part everyone says sleet. I know this is purely anecdotal, but, just saying.--
Asderoff (
talk)
22:18, 24 January 2009 (UTC)reply
Perhaps that is true in NYC, however, in Connecticut sleet is used to describe the mix of rain and snow that makes winter less than enjoyable.
Squirle (
talk)
18:15, 22 February 2009 (UTC)reply
I'm afraid you are mistaken. When an American meteorologist says "sleet", they specifically mean that little balls of ice will be falling from the sky. When they say "sleet and freezing rain" they specifically mean little balls of ice, as well as raindrops that turn to ice when they hit the ground/trees/powerlines etc, will be falling from the sky. When they say "snow will mix with sleet" then they mean that snowflakes will mix with little balls of ice falling from the sky. You may have MISINTERPRETED what was being said, perhaps because sleet usually happens during the transition process when snow is changing to rain (or vice-versa), but sleet has a very specific meaning in American meteorology, and it is NOT a "mixture of rain and snow". Its ice pellets. BTW, you are probably one of those people who sees ice pellets in the middle of a winter storm and says "its hailing!"
Famartin (
talk)
23:27, 22 February 2009 (UTC)reply
And you are probably one of those people who cannot avoid sounding rude when faced with a differing opinion. Please do enjoy your feeling of supremacy. I'm leaving the subject.
Squirle (
talk)
06:33, 24 February 2009 (UTC)reply
Not necessarily right. It's just that discussing with a know-it-all is such a waste of time. You think you are witty, but your comments like "Young sir", and "one of those people" are demeaning and presumptuous. I really have better things to do than having you tell me I'm ignorant based only on me saying that people where I live use sleet to describe a snow-rain mixture. And you have no idea if Asderoff is young, and even he/she is young, being young doesn't mean being wrong. —Preceding
unsigned comment added by
Squirle (
talk •
contribs)
17:43, 25 February 2009 (UTC)reply
I worked in aviation for 20 years. Sleet is ice pellets ... NOT a mixture. It is often mixed with rain, but the mixture itself is not sleet. Famartin is right:
SLEET:
Also known as ice pellets, it is winter precipitation in the form of small bits or pellets of ice that rebound after striking the ground or any other hard surface. It is reported as "PE" in an observation and on the METAR. --
AnWulf ... Wes þu hal! (
talk)
13:28, 19 February 2012 (UTC)reply
You generally don't get
ice pellets in Seattle, so I'm not all that surprised. Of course you generally don't get much winter period, so I question the validity of your vote even counting. Those who don't experience much winter weather and therefore are unlikely to know the intricacies of the subject shouldn't participate in a debate about it.
Famartin (
talk)
18:35, 3 April 2009 (UTC)reply
We call it Sleet where I am in Texas, and also called it that from the part in Illinois I lived in prior to moving here.
Avanent (
talk)
02:52, 14 March 2014 (UTC)reply
This term has suddenly taken hold in the UK very recently; I don't remember its being used to anything like the same extent until this winter. For example,
this BBC News page uses it. However, it seems to be being used for longer periods of precipitation, and as such is distinct from "wintry showers".
Loganberry (
Talk)
21:38, 7 February 2009 (UTC)reply
As mentioned by an anon editor two years ago (above) there's a contradiction here:
Professional meteorologists tend to shy away from using the term ["wintry showers"] under any circumstances, but radio and television weather reporters use it frequently.
BBC national weather presenters, at least, generally are professional meteorologists. And yes, they use "wintry showers" on the TV forecasts - so "under any circumstances" is certainly too strong.
Loganberry (
Talk)
20:05, 30 November 2010 (UTC)reply
Would "in formal contexts" be supportable? The presentation style of forecasts on the TV does seenm to be getting more informal than it used to be.
Thryduulf (
talk)
04:33, 4 December 2010 (UTC)reply