| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Rain | must be liquid before hitting the surface and most not freeze onto surface. Therefore, the surface temperatures must be above freezing and he air above the ground must be above freezing. |
| Snow | must begin as a snowflake (Bergeron) and remain a snowflake until reaching the ground. If flake melts into a drop it can never return to a flake form again. Therefore, the cloud and all of the air beneath the cloud must be freezing. |
| Freezing Rain | rain that hits a below-freezing surface to form a glaze. The surface must be at or below freezing while the air above the surface must be warmer than freezing. |
| Sleet | rain that freezes in the air and hits the ground as a small pellet. Typically, there is a warm layer of air aloft that keeps precipitationas rain but the layer of air aboce the surface is below freezing. When rain falls into the below-freezing layer of air, it turns to an ice pellet. |
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