What are snow pellets?

Snow pellets are specifically recognized as white opaque grains of ice that are larger than snow grains. These are typically characterized by their small, round shape and often form during processes involving freezing and precipitation in the atmosphere.

Snow pellets, also known as "ice pellets" or "sleet" in certain contexts, can occur when supercooled water droplets freeze before they reach the ground. Their growth occurs in cloud environments where both supercooled water and ice coexist, allowing the pellets to maintain their rounded form and opaque structure.

The other descriptions do not accurately reflect the characteristics of snow pellets. Small white ice grains less than 1mm pertain more to a different type of precipitation known as snow grains. Very brittle ice pellets that fall with rain or snow do not correctly define the structure and formation process of snow pellets. Additionally, frozen rain forming a solid sheet of ice relates to a different form of ice accumulation, typically resulting from freezing rain, not snow pellets.