Weather Tidbits: Winter Precipitation Types

This edition of Weather Tidbits discusses various precipitation types that are seen during the winter. This will include rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow. Precipitation at the surface will fall as rain if the entire atmospheric column is above 32 degrees (freezing mark). Precipitation will fall as freezing rain if there is a very shallow cold layer below freezing at the surface while most of the column aloft is above freezing. With freezing rain, the rain drop makes the entire trip to the ground as a liquid, but freezes on contact with any surface as long as the surface is below freezing. Sleet forms when the surface cold layer is thicker than with freezing rain, with a warm layer aloft. Sleet is a partially melted snowflake that refreezes within the cold layer as it falls to the surface. Snow falls when the entire column is generally at or below freezing. Sometimes, snow can fall to the surface if most of the column is below freezing aloft, as a shallow layer at the surface with temperatures just a few degrees above freezing is in place.