Precipitation is an important link in the water cycle on Earth. They precipitate from the air or fall out of the clouds. They are water in various states (solid or liquid).
By the nature of the fallout, they are divided into three types - drizzle, cover and rainfall.
In the first case, precipitation appears both at minus and at plus temperature. It can be small droplets of water, as if floating in the air, or white solid particles (up to 2 mm in diameter), the so-called “snow grains”. Drop out in a small area, lasting no more than half an hour.
Heavy rainfall is formed under the influence of warm fronts. They are always long (up to two days), uniform, begin and end gradually, no special changes in the intensity of the deposition are observed.
With the prevalence of cold fronts, rainfall can be observed. They start suddenly and end unexpectedly, also dramatically change the intensity of the oscillations. May last from a few minutes to 2 hours. One of their types is heavy snow.
general information
Heavy snow is heavy precipitation that falls from cumulonimbus (dense) clouds, mainly in the cold season. It usually does not last too long, up to 1-2 hours (usually up to half an hour). It evaporates quite quickly, because it has a low density.
To the question: “Heavy snow: what is it and how is it formed?” Can be answered as follows. The atmospheric layers in which the clouds form have a temperature of -5, -7 degrees, and due to the insufficient amount of heat near the ground (in order for heavy rain to fall) this natural phenomenon also occurs.
Its snowflakes, as a rule, are of medium or small size. They come together and fall in flakes, quickly forming a high layer on the ground.
There is also light rainfall. What is this precipitation and what distinguishes it? It is not difficult to answer: in this case, the intensity decreases, and the snow flakes seem “dry”. It lasts no more than one hour.
Heavy snow - is it dangerous or not?
This type of precipitation usually leads to a decrease in horizontal visibility. If in clear weather the visual overview is from 6 to 10 km, then during a snowstorm it decreases to 2-4 km, and sometimes to 100-500 meters, depending on the intensity. Under such weather conditions, you need to be especially careful on the roads, as the risk of traffic accidents increases.
Heavy snow is one of the most dangerous meteorological phenomena, in which the precipitation reaches 20 mm over a period of time up to 12 hours.
It can also be accompanied by strong gusts of wind, causing it to turn into a strong snowstorm. In such cases, it is better to refrain from being outdoors.
Heavy snow is a phenomenon that ends as abruptly as it began. In clear weather, it is usually replaced by a bright sun.
Mixed precipitation
For the formation of snow or rain, different temperature conditions are needed. However, mixed precipitation sometimes falls to the ground. One of the types is heavy snow with rain. You can watch it more often in autumn or spring.
In composition, it is a mixture of drops of water and snowflakes. When it hits the surface of the earth, such precipitations melt at a positive temperature, and freeze at a minus temperature, forming a layer of ice (ice).
Another type of mixed precipitation is torrential wet snow. It is usually distinguished as a separate weather phenomenon. It falls out at positive air temperature and is a large flake of snow, melting even before touching the surface of the earth.
Is freezing rain and heavy snow the same thing or not?
These terms, like the weather phenomena themselves , are very different, but sometimes they are still confused. Most often this is due to the synonyms of the words “rain” from the first name and the word “rain” from the second. To remember that this is not the same thing, you need to understand what constitutes ice rain.
It is referred to as cover rainfall, and it occurs at a negative temperature, up to -15 degrees. It lasts, as a rule, for a rather long time, without changing its intensity. Ice rain is hard, transparent white pieces of ice, inside of which there is water in a liquid state.
When hit on the ground, it leads to icing in the same way as wet rain snow. Photos of these natural phenomena can be easily found in this article.