<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Ice pellets are a form of precipitation consisting of small, translucent balls of ice . Ice pellets are smaller than hailstones which form in thunderstorms rather than in winter, and are different from graupel ("soft hail") which is made of frosty white rime, and from a mixture of rain and snow which is a slushy liquid or semisolid . Ice pellets often bounce when they hit the ground or other solid objects, and make a higher - pitched "tap" when striking objects like jackets, windshields, and dried leaves, compared to the dull splat of liquid raindrops . Pellets generally do not freeze into a solid mass unless mixed with freezing rain . The METAR code for ice pellets is PL (PE before November 1998). </P> <P> Ice pellets are known to Americans as sleet, the official term used by the U.S. National Weather Service . However, the term sleet refers to a mixture of rain and snow in most Commonwealth countries, including Canada . Because of this, Environment Canada never uses the term sleet, and uses the terms "ice pellets" or "wet snow" instead . </P>

What is the difference between hail and ice pellets