HOUSTON — Southeast Texas was impacted by an Arctic blast this week and winter precipitation and ice accumulations caused roadway issues across the area.
You might have seen unfamiliar colors on the radar maps from the KHOU 11 Weather Team.
Knowing the type of winter precipitation falling in your area could give you an idea of whether roadways around your home are hazardous or not.
The various types of winter precipitation are rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow. It all depends on the temperatures in a column of air from the ground to high in the atmosphere. As we probably learned in grade school science class, water freezes at 32°F and below. Depending on if temperatures are above or below 32°F, depends on what will reach the surface.
Types of Winter Precipitation:
- Rain during a winter weather event is when snow falls from clouds in the atmosphere where the surrounding temperature is 32°F and melts when it falls into a warmer layer that reaches the ground.
- Freezing rain, one the most hazardous types of winter precipitation is when snow falls from clouds in the sky and melts in a warmer layer in the middle layer of the atmosphere. At this point, temperatures on the ground are below freezing (below 32°). When melted droplets hit a surface, they freeze on contact creating ice accumulations.
- Sleet is when snow falls as snow in the upper levels of the atmosphere and melts when it comes in contact with a warmer middle layer in the atmosphere. As it makes its way into a below-freezing layer high above the ground, it refreezes back into ice pellets.
- Snow falls when the entire column of air is below freezing from the ground to high in the atmosphere. Snow falls from clouds high in the atmosphere and never melts on the way down to the ground. It remains frozen.