Microphysical Properties of Slow-Falling and Fast-Falling Ice Pellets Formed by Freezing Associated with Evaporative Cooling

Abstract

Abstract This paper describes a numerical and observational study focused on ice-pellet formation and microphysical properties near 0°C from an ice-pellet-dominated storm associated with an unusually warm and dry atmosphere on 10 April 2005, in Sapporo, Japan. A one-dimensional numerical model simulation indicated that precipitation particle temperatures were sensitive to environmental temperature and relative humidity and close to the wet-bulb temperature. The simulation demonstrated that completely melted snowflakes could refreeze by evaporative cooling. Moreover, initial freezing could be explained by contact ice nucleation at the height of the minimum wet-bulb temperature. Observations using a 2D video distrometer (2DVD) indicated that ice pellets exhibited two modes of fall velocities at surface temperatures near 0°C during the same time period: slow falling and fast falling. The slow-falling ice pellets exhibited a velocity similar to the average terminal velocity of hail, whereas the velocities of the fast-falling ice pellets were closer to those of raindrops. Surface roundness and fracturing characteristics of ice pellets suggest that slow-falling ice pellets froze rapidly and uniformly in a relatively cold dry layer with a wet-bulb temperature near −4°C. In contrast, the fast-falling ice pellets exhibited the properties of ice particles with a wet smooth surface, suggesting that they froze slowly in a relatively warm layer by contacting ice crystals or splinters generated by preceding slow-falling ice pellets.