Freezing Rain | A Rare & Destructive Type of Rain
Freezing rain is one of the most interesting types of precipitation. Learn more here…
Freezing rain is one of the most dangerous types of precipitation and one of the most uncommon. Certain ingredients have to be in place for it to happen, and those ingredients only occur at certain seasons, locations, and times. In this post, several areas of freezing rain are explored, including how it happens and the impacts of freezing rain. Learn more here…
This post will be all about freezing rain.
Freezing Rain
What is Freezing Rain?
Freezing rain happens when snowflakes completely melt but the water they melt into is still extremely cold. This makes it so that the water freezes when it lands on a frigid object. Freezing rain is relatively rare because for the snowflakes to freeze and then be unfrozen, it has to be cold far above the surface but warmer near it. If this cold rain is in abundance, it can cause serious impacts because of the weight like bringing down powerlines and freezing roads.
Freezing Rain vs. Sleet
One of the most searched topics that will be in this post today will be sleet vs. freezing rain. There are a few main differences between the two that I will list here…
- Sleet is when the snowflakes only partially melt, and is like a slush, and freezing rain is when it melts fully and is a liquid.
- When the sleet hits the ground, it is in the same form it was in when it was falling, while with freezing rain, it freezes when it touches the ground, as the name suggests.
- Sleet accumulates on the ground like snow but freezing rain doesn’t.
Is Freezing Rain Dangerous?
Freezing rain can be very dangerous. Many things can happen from it, some examples we have already talked about. One example happens when the ice collects on the road, forming black ice. Black ice is difficult to see, making it unnoticeable until you get caught. Once on this ice, it is easy to crash and sometimes even pileups can happen.
Another hazard from freezing rain is bringing downed powerlines. The weight of the ice on the powerlines can make them fall, just like how they bring down branches too. It can fall onto buildings, into yards, and also roads. Downed powerlines are dangerous to go near, so that can be an inconvenience. One more not-so-dangerous part of the rain but annoying is it getting on everything. It can be hard to get off and make icicles.
Freezing Rain Forecast
Forecasting freezing rain can be difficult, but the National Weather Service has multiple ways to see if it is possible. One clue they have is that it is possible if the surface temperature is above freezing temperature but the air above it is below freezing. They have many other (some complicated) ways of predicting it, but the last one I will say is that if the ground is freezing but the air above it is slightly above freezing, then freezing rain can happen. They can use the conditions around ice storms to predict it, too. If you want to learn more about it, click here.
Freezing Rain Facts
To finish this post, here are some quick freezing rain fun facts to go back to from the post:
- Freezing rain is just melted snowflakes that fall onto really cold objects and freeze.
- They can bring down powerlines, make roads temporarily inaccessible, bring down branches, freeze cars, and more.
- This weather phenomenon might seem hard to forecast, but it is figured out by the NWS.
- It is one of the most rare types of precipitation.
