Freezing rain is rain that falls as a liquid but turns to ice on contact with a freezing object to form a smooth ice coating called glaze. Usually freezing rain only lasts a short time, because it either turns to rain or to snow. Sleet is frozen or partially frozen rain in the form of ice pellets. Sleet forms when rain falls from a warm layer of air, passes through a freezing air layer near Earth’s surface, and forms hard, clear, tiny ice pellets that can hit the ground so fast that they bounce off with a sharp click.