ice pellets

American  

plural noun

Meteorology.

1. precipitation consisting of particles of ice less than 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) in diameter, occurring either as frozen raindrops or as small hailstones.

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Example Sentences

The towing — expected among camp residents for more than a week — started just as ice pellets were starting to fall on a raw October day.

From Seattle Times

The embryos grow into soft ice pellets called graupel, says Sonia Lasher-Trapp, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

From Scientific American

Sleet is also called ice pellets.

From Los Angeles Times

In Canada, ice pellets and freezing rain were forecast overnight after parts of southern Ontario were blanketed in snow during the evening rush hour on Wednesday.

From BBC

Farther north, Canada’s weather and climate agency said that storm conditions would bring a wintry mix of snow and ice pellets to southern Ontario late Wednesday and into Thursday.

From New York Times