I hate the term "Wintry mix"

[lspencer534]

I can take snow--you can drive on it. Nobody can drive on ice. What I hate though is "wintry mix" in the forecast, which is what's predicted again. What's it gonna be? Freezing rain? Sleet? Snow? One of them, two of them, all of them, 1.5 of each? You can't just wake up and look out on the driveway to see if you can drive on it. It just looks white. Oh, no; you have to test drive on it, only to find out everything's okay until you come to a bridge.

And the weather forecasters are useless about "wintry mix"; they're telling you to stay off the roads, but the traffic cams show cars on the roads. Sometimes. Last week there was no traffic on the cams, but I drove to work just fine.

What's the difference between sleet and freezing rain anyway? Isn't sleet frozen rain? If so, then freezing rain is sleet-to-be? :o_o:

[Cybercowboy]

What's the difference between sleet and freezing rain anyway? Isn't sleet frozen rain? If so, then freezing rain is sleet-to-be? :o_o:

Sleet is below-freezing flash-frozen rain. It's like miniature hail stones, and it looks like little salt pellets when it hits pavement. Freezing rain is rain and sleet mixed together into one gawdawful mess.

[ChasC5]

Once you drive in it, you won't care what they call it, because you'll have your own label. :D

[Yamma]

had a nice 'wintry mix' here today. Turned into 1" of snow, schools closed, mass chaos.

[Rapid Roger]

We are getting the same "Wintry Mix" forecast for tonight and tomorrow.....:)

[repo]

We are getting the same "Wintry Mix" forecast for tonight and tomorrow.....:)

On top of the foot on the ground.:o_o:

[Doug28450]

We are getting the same "Wintry Mix" forecast for tonight and tomorrow.....:)

Hmph....

You can post something other than a beg for barn bucks.

[Doug28450]

On top of the foot on the ground.:o_o:

:toetap:

I've got about 2.5'.

[Exotix]

Black Ice here in North Alabama ...

[lspencer534]

Black Ice here in North Alabama ...

That's racist!

[Ms Red_Rocket_2004]

What's the difference between sleet and freezing rain anyway? Isn't sleet frozen rain? If so, then freezing rain is sleet-to-be? :o_o:

This is so incredible that you should bring the subject up. From my NE past, I see and listen to freezing rain and sleet in the same manner...you get tttttttttt against your windows and it is ice any way you look at it. I take caution. Last week in Houston, we had sleet and freezing rain in the forecast. Which one???

[Scissors]

I can take snow--you can drive on it. Nobody can drive on ice. What I hate though is "wintry mix" in the forecast, which is what's predicted again. What's it gonna be? Freezing rain? Sleet? Snow? One of them, two of them, all of them, 1.5 of each? You can't just wake up and look out on the driveway to see if you can drive on it. It just looks white. Oh, no; you have to test drive on it, only to find out everything's okay until you come to a bridge.

And the weather forecasters are useless about "wintry mix"; they're telling you to stay off the roads, but the traffic cams show cars on the roads. Sometimes. Last week there was no traffic on the cams, but I drove to work just fine.

What's the difference between sleet and freezing rain anyway? Isn't sleet frozen rain? If so, then freezing rain is sleet-to-be? :o_o:

U.S. definitions for sleet and hail are different than in Britain, which sometimes causes confusion, particularly when one looks them up in a British-sourced dictionary.

In the U.S. freezing rain is rain that freezes upon hitting the ground and sleet is basically winter hail (the same thing as hail, only smaller and with different origins). A wintery mix is a mix of any or all of sleet, freezing rain, and snow. (In Britain "sleet" is when you get a mix of rain and snow.)

That said, forecasters are forecasting for an entire region. One county might get freezing rain while another county might get hammered with ice. 50% chance of rain can either mean that the entire region stands a 50/50 chance of getting rain, or it can mean that approximately 50% of the region will definitely get raid, while the other half won't.

[Scissors]

That's racist!
It's Alabama.