Forecasting Freezing Rain

[The PIT]

I guess this is even harder than forecasting Snow. Yesterday here the rain was freezing but only in some spots So the bins were wet but the rain gauge had layer of ice on it. The grass where the frost hadn't melted had ice on. The patio had ice in spots but just wet elsewhere despite being close to freezing.

So I guess the depth of the warm layer has to be taken into account, The amount of precipitation dropping, The warmth of the warm sector, Depth of the cold air lower down, Temperature of the cold air, and the temperature of the ground it's hitting. 

Anything else to take into account?

[Aleman]

I was in Bradford yesterday afternoon. The forecast was for snow and possible freezing rain. We actually had no snow about 4 hours of freezing rain that started off light and finished off torrential. Roads seemed okay but lots of pavements were very slippery and the car was encased in ice when I got back as were tree branches and weeds. I set off home and could see frozen pavement and parked cars everywhere. I made a pit stop after about 35 minutes of driving, some of which was on the motorway with wipers on full in difficult driving. When I pulled up, and despite presumably heavy salting on the motorway, I STILL had ice frozen to the roof. Despite the deluge it either had not melted or had even formed more. It's the first time on my life I have seen such conditions. It was very strange driving in rain with the car showing -1C.  I'm amazed that I can only find limited coverage of oncidents when searching the internet. I would have thought there had been loads of problems with it. The only reports I've found are Leeds/Bradford airport and the M74 in Scotland.

[Aleman]

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/transport/live-updates-first-pictures-as-freezing-rain-causes-disruption-on-yorkshire-roads-and-to-power-supplies-1-9495075

https://www.minsterfm.com/news/local/2762072/updated---police-warn-freezing-rain-is-making-roads-very-dangerous/

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by Aleman