Definition of reservoir. 1 : a place where something is kept in store: such asa : an artificial lake where water is collected and kept in quantity for useb : a part of an apparatus in which a liquid is heldc : supply, store a large reservoir of educated people.
All three involve precipitation in the clouds, but each requires just the right set of circumstances to occur. One difference between sleet and hail is the time of year in which each occurs. Typically, hail is most often a summer occurrence, while sleet occurs mostly in winter. Youâre much more likely to see hail in warm and oppressive weather where a sudden thunderstorm occurs.
Ice Pellets Ice pellets (also called sleet) are refrozen snowflakes. They occur when a layer of air aloft is warm enough (> 0 C) to melt snowflakes into raindrops but the air near the ground is cold enough to freeze the drops. (The refrozen crystals never regain their virginal form.)