Plain English Meaning

Small, hard pieces of ice that fall from the sky and bounce when they hit the ground. On a weather report, they show up as the code PL.

Full Definition

A form of precipitation consisting of transparent or translucent pellets of ice, 5 mm or less in diameter, that bounce when they hit a hard surface and make a sound on impact. Ice pellets form when raindrops or partially melted snowflakes refreeze while falling through a layer of below-freezing air beneath a warmer layer aloft. In a METAR, they are reported with the code PL, sometimes preceded by an intensity sign such as -PL (light) or +PL (heavy).