When your local news channel announces a weather advisory due to sleet, hail ... Once the snow reaches the warm middle layer, it melts and becomes rain. The water freezes again when it passes ...

Mother Nature delivered cold temperatures, rain ... Oxnard and brought hail to Ventura. Mattie Richardson captured a photo of Salzer’s Records, where the hail resembled snow.

Winter storms can bring all sorts of precipitation: snow, sleet, hail, freezing rain or even plain old rain. Why so much variety? The answer involves temperature changes as the precipitation falls.