Rain and snow mixed Rain and snow mixed Rain and snow mixed is precipitation composed of rain and partially melted snow. Unlike ice pellets, which are hard, and freezing rain, which is fluid until striking an object, this precipitation is soft and translucent, but it contains some traces of ice crystals, from partially fused snowflakes. In any one location, it usually occurs briefly as a transition phase from rain to snow or vice versa. Its METAR code is RASN. This precipitation type is commonly known as sleet in most Commonwealth countries, including Canada. However, the United States National Weather Service uses the term sleet
Ice pellets a solid mass unless mixed with freezing rain. The METAR code for ice pellets is PL (PE before November 1998). Ice pellets are known as sleet in the United States, 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. Ice pellets form when a layer of above-freezing air is located between above the ground, with sub-freezing air both above and below