Final answer:
When warm air above freezing overlays a cold layer near the ground, the precipitation that forms is sleet, which occurs as raindrops freeze before reaching the ground.
Step-by-step explanation:
The type of precipitation that is likely to occur when a layer of warm air with temperatures above freezing overlies a subfreezing layer near the ground is sleet.
This is because as raindrops fall from the warm layer into the colder layer, they freeze before reaching the ground, turning into small ice pellets known as sleet. Snow requires colder temperatures in the atmosphere and at the ground to remain frozen, while hail is formed in thunderstorms when raindrops are carried upward by strong winds into extremely cold areas and then fall to the ground. Therefore, sleet is the correct form of precipitation in this scenario.