The Ice Storm Cometh

Could someone please tell me what's the difference between sleet and freezing rain? I always thought that they were synonyms, but the weather report keeps talking about "sleet and freezing rain."

In any event, the sleet and/or freezing rain began around midnight and hasn't let up yet, so I was awakened just after 5am by a robo-call from the school superintendent to say that school would be delayed by 2 hours today so that everyone can get to school safely, after rush hour has passed and the plows have come through. This wreaks havoc on working parents' schedules; I myself need to head into Charlestown today, but luckily I don't have to punch a time-clock. The good news is that a delayed opening doesn't count as a snow day, so we don't get an extra day of school tacked on in June for this one.

I should have had the gift of sleeping in, but the phone so startled me (out of a rare and precious deep slumber, I might add) that I couldn't fall back to sleep. Sigh.

Update: Over on Twitter, @gturpin has directed me to the relevant meteorology pages on Wikipedia (which is kind of a nice little bit of serendipity, since this is my first week sans Wiki Wednesday):

Ice pellets are a form of precipitation consisting of small, translucent ice balls. This form of precipitation is also known as sleet in the United States and Canada. Ice pellets are usually (but not always) smaller than hailstones. They often bounce when they hit the ground, and generally do not freeze into a solid mass unless mixed with freezing rain.

Freezing rain is a type of precipitation associated with a temperature inversion airmass in cold climates. It is described as precipitation that begins as snow at higher altitude, falling from a cloud towards earth, melts completely on its way down while passing through a layer of air above freezing temperature, and then encounters a layer below freezing at a lower level to become supercooled. This water will then freeze upon impact with any object it encounters.

So now I know, and you do, too.

Comments

[Elena]

LOL, yes, that ringing phone will do a number on your blood pressure. Take it from a former substitute teacher! I believe that freezing rain comes down as rain & freezes once it hits the ground. Sleet comes down already frozen. Or something like that!

[amy]

i would like someone to find the correlation between the following:

ANOTHER day where school is cancelled (out here in metrowest land), and;

Having THREE teenagers in the house lounging around in their pjs, eating mass quantities of food and leaving their debris in piles throughout the house, but mainly in front of the TV where they watch endless episodes of The Simpsons, and;

the corresponding blood pressure, patience quotient, and wine sales to the mothers of said children described above.

And no, I will not be appreciating this in JULY, when my kids are still in school making up for another snow/ice/but now it's just slush and they could have gone to school day.

[Elena]

You could have added just one more line to your update: Basically, Elena was right! =D

[zoey]

I just found this blog while searching on "exchange policy at J jill & came upon your rant :) which I read along with all the comments. I really enjoyed it ( especially the bit from the reader who pointed out that you were so fortunate to be able to wear clothes AND eat)and oh, I see it was put up in 2005 but there was an comment from today. Good work!

Anyway, I bookmarked your site, I like it, & wanted to just mention a point on this snow thing. I moved to Santa Fe from NH this year & snow here is different. It's dry, freezes on the road faster, and never turns to slush. Now isn't that interesting? Not!