The Form of Cyclonic Precipitation and Its Thermal Impact

Abstract

A two-dimensional, parameterized kinematic cloud microphysics model is described and used to simulate the form of cyclonic precipitation and its thermal impact in three idealized situations. The first situation represents a strong, warm, or stationary front with a zone of freezing rain and ice pellets separating regions of rain and snow. The second represents a storm with initial surface temperatures slightly above 0°C, and in which precipitation at the ground changes from rain to snow as a result of cooling by melting and evaporation of hydrometeors. The third represents a shallow cloud in a sounding with all temperatures below0°C that initially produces freezing drizzle before a change to snow or ice pellets.