MASS-DIMENSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS FOR ICE PARTICLES AND THE INFLUENCE OF RIMING ON SNOWFALL RATES Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The masses, dimensions, and habits of over 2800 natural ice particles precipitating from orographic winter storms in the central Sierra Nevada were obtained using photomicrographs. Ice particles that could be unambiguously classified were used to generate empirical expressions relating snow particle masses and dimensions. Many of the ice particle types had not been investigated previously. The influence of riming and aggregation on ice particle masses was examined. When possible, comparisons are made between these results and those of other experimental observations. The results from two storms analyzed suggest that about 30 to 40% of the deposited snow is composed of accreted cloud water during moderately rimed snowfall. -from Authors

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF APPLIED METEOROLOGY

author list (cited authors)

  • MITCHELL, D. L., ZHANG, R., & PITTER, R. L.

citation count

  • 200

complete list of authors

  • MITCHELL, DL||ZHANG, R||PITTER, RL

publication date

  • February 1990