Freezing Rain

How does one use freezing rain in a sentence without spoiling everyone's mood? I heard it, early in the morning, while it was still dark outside, the sound you can't mistake for anything else other than maybe sandblasting. Ice pellets. Nice!

With that the last of the annuals abandoned the fight. The perennials are still trying to put a good face on the end of the season, even as they are, buried in dead foliage, but alas, the fall garden is a mess no matter how you're trying to look at it.

There is an inordinate amount of leaves in the back yard, still green, forcibly scattered and carried in from somewhere else. I can't recognize them, they don't belong to any of the trees above.

The strong winds have stripped the branches bare, making my life a little easier in the process: I won't have to worry about leaves on the lawn in January.

The weather relented for Halloween to give the kids just enough time to enjoy trick or treating. The cessation of hostilities was lifted immediately after, with the return of cold wind and dreadful drizzle and a permanent drop in temperature.