SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/pilot-freezing-rain-warm-layer

Freezing rain tells a pilot what about the air above?

There is a warmer, above-freezing layer aloft.

  1. A warmer layer sits above the freezing air ✔
  2. The air above is even colder
  3. A thunderstorm is directly overhead

Why: Freezing rain falls as rain from an above-freezing layer, then drops through shallow freezing air near the surface. It needs a temperature inversion, often along a warm front where warm air overruns cold air.

Huh, didn't know that: Ice pellets reaching the ground also signal a temperature inversion, with freezing rain at a higher altitude.

The dad joke
What did the icicle say to the airplane? I'm just here to hang out.
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Sources

  1. FAA Aviation Weather Handbook (FAA-H-8083-28B), Chapter 14 https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/FAA-H-8083-28B.pdf

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