Freezing rain fell a short while ago in the high mountains of Ajloun.. What is frozen rain, how does it occur, and what is the difference between it and hail and snow?

Arab Weather - Parts of the high northern highlands of the Kingdom witnessed freezing rain a short while ago as a result of the severe cold weather and a significant and unusual drop in temperatures for this time of year.

But what is freezing rain, how does it occur, and what is the difference between it and hail and snow?

Freezing rain: is a term given to rain when it falls in its liquid state, and freezes directly upon contact with the ground surface, forming a layer of ice, due to the surface temperature dropping to freezing point.

How is freezing rain formed?

Freezing rain begins its journey as a normal raindrop falling from the clouds in a liquid state as it passes through the middle layers of the atmosphere, when the temperature in this layer is above freezing and warmer than the Earth's surface, while the temperature on the Earth's surface is equal to or below freezing, which causes these drops to freeze directly upon reaching the Earth's surface and touching everything on it.

Hail: Hail can be defined as irregularly shaped balls of frozen water that form inside cumulonimbus clouds (specifically cumulonimbus) and thunderstorms. Hailstones fall to the ground in different sizes and may be large and dense, causing significant material damage in some cases. The diameter of a hailstone ranges from a few millimeters to several centimeters. Hailstones consist of ice layers about 1 mm thick, and the size of a giant hailstone can reach about 20-40 cm or more.

For hail to form inside cumulonimbus clouds, several factors are required, including the meeting of two air masses with different characteristics, one of which is cold and the other warm, or in low-pressure areas and cold air fronts, or through the formation of convective clouds, where clouds grow in all layers of the atmosphere and reach high levels and become cumulonimbus with a high vertical extension, at which point the temperature at that level is below freezing.

When there are ascending air currents (lifting energy), they prevent the water droplets in the clouds from descending to the Earth's surface and lift them to the upper layers of the atmosphere where the temperature is below zero degrees Celsius. At that point, the water droplets begin to freeze (transform from a liquid to a solid state) forming small ice crystals that try to descend to the Earth's surface, but due to their small size and the ability of the ascending air currents to carry them, they are lifted again to the upper layers of the atmosphere, where they are covered with new layers of ice. When the process is repeated several times, the ascending current becomes unable to carry them, and thus they fall to the ground very quickly and in different sizes, and may be very dense in some cases. Hail usually continues for a few minutes to 15 minutes, and may form a layer on the ground several centimeters thick.

Snow: Snow is defined as the form of water in its solid state, which is formed when the temperature of water drops below zero degrees Celsius. Water molecules in the liquid state have more energy than solid ice molecules, so they move faster than ice molecules and collide with each other. However, when the temperature of the water drops, the potential energy of the molecules decreases, which is reflected in their movement, making them slower. When the temperature of the water reaches approximately zero degrees Celsius, the molecules stick together, forming ice.