What's this kind of rain?

[nessie]

Hi,

What can we call the kind of rain that has not only water but also ice cube? I don't know in which part of the world this kind of rain is common, but I've heard that there used to be this kind of rain in my country (I've never seen it, though )

Can it be called a cloudburst?
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... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Barb_D]

Are you referring to "hail"? That's a summer-type rain storm because the ice forms very high up in that atmosphere. Hail can be small, the size of peas, or quite large - I've heard of, but never seen, baseball-sized hail! Hail can damage crops, dent cars, and of course be hazardous to people!

If you are talking about winter-type rain/ice, that can be freezing rain or sleet. (Freezing rain bounces when it lands; sleet just makes a lot of ice.)

[Yankee]

Hi Barb
I've experienced the car-denting kind of hail on a number of occasions -- all of them in Germany.

Hi Nessie
To me a cloudburst is a sudden, heavy downpour of rain -- usually of short duration, and with no ice involved.
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[nessie]

Thanks a lot, Barb and Amy

I think "hail" is the right word because I'm asking about summer-type rain (I don't know if there is really any hail in Vietnam but anyway, never is there any snow here )
Now I just have one more question: does the word "hail" refer to the ice balls or the rain itself?

Many thanks
Nessie

[Yankee]

Hi Nessie

Hail is ice.
During the height of a hailstorm, you probably won't have (or notice) any liquid precipitation at all. I suppose it's possible that there could be a mix of rain (water) and ice toward the end of a hailstorm.
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_________________
Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Inga]

in Belarus we call it 'rain and hail', you see, we separate them

[Inga]

I found it in Longman dictionary: frozen rain drops which fall as hard balls of ice
heavy showers of rain and hail

[Molly]

And in Nigeria we say "Look, it's hailstoning". Do you all have the verb?

[Inga]

No, we don't have.
But in English it can be 'it's hailing'?

[Molly]

[nessie]

So "hail" refers to the ice, not the rain? And if we want to talk about the rain, we must use "hailstorm"? Uhm... is it really ok to use "hailstorm" even if the rain is not very heavy?

[Yankee]

[nessie]

Thanks a lot, Amy

So... can we say "a light hailstorm" to refer to a hailstorm which is not very heavy?