What is the difference between freezing rain and sleet?

Raindrops and snow fall at the same time.

Snow is the crystallization of water. Clouds in the sky encounter cold air, and the temperature drops. Under the joint action of low temperature and tiny dust, ice crystals are formed in water vapor. The volume keeps increasing. If the density exceeds the air, it will drop, indicating that it is snowing.

It usually doesn't snow in a clear sky. But because of the different clouds, one layer is snow and the other layer is rain, so sleet will form.

Freezing rain is a weather phenomenon seen in early winter or late winter and early spring. When the strong cold air meets the southbound warm and humid airflow, the cold air is inserted under the warm air like a wedge, and the near-surface temperature drops below zero, and the humid warm air is lifted to form clouds, causing rainfall. When raindrops fall from the air, because the temperature near the ground is very low, a layer of crystal clear thin ice will form on the surface of telephone poles, trees, vegetation and roads, which is called "freezing rain" in meteorology.