Met Office upgrades weather warning for snow and ice from yellow to amber for much of northern and central England while health services on alert
Today, the UK is braced for freezing rain – but what is that?
The Met Office describes it as “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.
However, it is not just these eye-catching scenes which the freezing rain can bring; 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. Continue reading…
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