18 December, 20089:39 a.m.
The mention of “freezing fog” in recent local forecasts has more than a few folks scratching their heads, because they’ve never heard of fog freezing before.
But it happens – particularly on mountaintops exposed to low clouds. Freezing fog occurs when liquid fog droplets freeze to surfaces, forming what is called “white rime ice.”
Not rhyme ice. Rime ice…which according to the Web site MiMi.hu is “an opaque coating of tiny, white, granular ice particles” that form when water strikes a surface well below 32F and rapidly freezes.
Black ice, by contrast, is a thin – almost invisible – layer of ice formed when rain falls on a surface that is below freezing. It is especially dangerous, because it is difficult to detect…until you’ve lost your footing or your car is gliding somewhere out of control.
17 December, 20089:07 a.m.
….I am wondering: Should freezing drizzle be called “frizzle?”
Forecasts this morning warned of freezing fog. It’s probably good we haven’t dubbed it “frog,” because that would almost certainly confuse folks who jump to a different conclusion than the forecasters intended.
The freezing drizzle is expected to fall overnight, so commuters should be particularly wary of bridges and elevated roadways.
16 December, 200810:52 a.m.
A look at the Kansas Department of Transportation’s map of road conditions shows that most major thoroughfares in the state are mostly or completely snowpacked this morning.
That translates into travel challenges.
Forecasts show that there won’t be much opportunity at all for melting before freezing rain arrives Thursday morning to glaze southern and central sectors of Kansas.
This winter’s starting to resemble last year’s version, when wintry precipitation cloaked Wichita and the surrounding area every few days. That got old pretty fast for folks who had become accustomed to the milder winters of the previous decade.
Perhaps those were merely aberrations, instead of a “new normal.”
Hunker down: winter’s not even officially here until next Monday.