IEM Daily Feature
Thursday, 03 November 2011

Chilling effects of rain and snow

Posted: 03 Nov 2011 06:00 AM

Iowa got a preview of winter yesterday with some locations picking up their first measurable snowfall of the season. This was thanks to a process of cooling the air from having snow fall into warmer air near the surface and cooling it from phase change into rain. The more intense precipitation will lead to the strongest cooling rates and best chances of snow in these situations. The featured chart presents a comparison of average afternoon temperature against a composite of RADAR reflectivity. In general, the coolest temperatures are associated with the higher rates of precipitation.

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Tags:   nexrad