Stormin Mormon wrote:
On 1/9/2014 5:22 PM, Snag wrote:
She's OK , one bruise from the seat belt and a couple of bruises from
where she slipped and fell down . It was so slick last night and this
morning that if there was the slightest slope you slid downhill . This one
was so bad because it was freezing rain falling on frozen ground . It makes
me wonder , how can it be raining when the air temp is like 29* ? Why isn't
it SNOW by the time it hits ?

I've wondered why NYS gets 35F and snowing. Guess
some things will never really be explained to me.


All precipitation begins as snow crystals in a cloud. In order for snow to
remain as snow all the way to the ground, it must never pass through a
layer of above-freezing air that is deep enough to melt it. That "deep
enough" criteria explains why we get snow when it's 35*.

If the layer of 35* air is very close to the ground then it will not be
deep enough to melt the snow before it hits the ground. The term "very
close" is relative. The colder the upper layers of air are, the "deeper"
the layer of warm air near the ground must be before the snow will turn to
rain.