Parts of Britain could witness the rare weather phenomenon of freezing rain as the latest maps have turned orange for November 29. Freezing rain is a rare type of liquid precipitation that strikes a cold surface, and freezes almost instantly.
The conditions needed for freezing rain are quite specific and we don’t see this phenomenon very often in the UK. It can produce striking effects, as the rain drop spreads out momentarily across the surface before it freezes, encasing the surface in a layer of clear ice.
Maps from WXCharts show that the unusual weather event could strike twice in Scotland while others witness snow.
Areas around Portree and Fort William could be battered by freezing rain, the weather maps have suggested, turning a bright organge colour over two parts of the Scottish Highlands and the Cairngorms.
According to the Met Office, freezing rain is more common in other parts of the world, for example in the USA, where weather systems produce a lot of freezing rain.
These are called ice storms, and if enough glaze collects on trees or power lines, the weight of the ice can cause them to break and can result in disruption on a large scale.
Explaining how the water droplets freeze, the forecaster shared: “Freezing rain tends to start its life as snow, ice, sleet or hail, but passes through a layer of air that’s above 0 °C on the way down to the ground, melting into a liquid water droplet.
“If these droplets then fall through a zone of sub-zero air just above the ground, they become supercooled.
“When these supercooled droplets strike surfaces that are close to or below freezing, they freeze on impact forming a glaze of ice.”
The weight of the ice can sometimes be heavy enough to bring down trees and power lines, and the glaze of ice on the ground effectively turns roads and pathways into an ice rink. The freezing rain can also prove extremely hazardous for aircraft.
The Met Office does not mention freezing rain on the horizon any time soon, but stated in its forecast: “Cold on Thursday, with fog in the east. Rain arriving in the west later. Winds strengthening from Friday, with outbreaks of rain in the west. Turning milder into the weekend.”
