Freezing Rain, it’s Snow Joke!
16th February 2022
Overnight there was a period of freezing rain. Freezing rain occurs when snow falls through a layer milder above freezing air and then through a lower layer of colder below freezing air. The snow melts as it passes through the warmer air, then becomes super-cooled in the colder air. It then freezes on, or slightly after, impact. This generally gives a slightly result to rime which forms from supercooled droplets of moisture in a cloud, and tend to be much smaller than raindrops. Although rime can form a layer of clear ice if the temperature is very close freezing point, but generally freezes very quickly and incorporates air leading to opaque layer. The drops associated with freezing rain where the drops tend to be larger, spread out more, expel more air and often lead to a clear icy layer. Last night’s freezing rain coated everything above 900 metres with a thin layer of ice. This made for some nice icy sculptures but made for pretty horrible skiing and slippery walking.
Looking South to Beinn Mheadhoin during a brief clear period around midday.Â
Another spell of freezing rain last night gave some of the skiing infrastructure a atheistically pleasing icicly appearance.Â
A sign just covered in a layer of ice. It was about a centimeter thick, but almost very clear. Â
A close up of the ice layer on the sign shown in the previous photo. Again aesthetically pleasing. The icy protrusions grow into the wind.Â
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