https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108120

The formation of winter precipitation is driven by ice-phase and liquid-phase processes, with the energy required for melting and freezing affecting both temperature and precipitation type. A major freezing rainstorm occurred in early April 2023 over Eastern Canada, causing damage to infrastructure and impacting the economy. The goal of this study is to investigate the impact of the latent heat release associated with freezing rain on the 2-m air temperature and the type of precipitation that reaches the surface. To illustrate the impacts of latent heat, the April storm was simulated using the Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model with the modified Predicted Particle Properties (P3) scheme. It was observed that the release of latent heat from freezing rain led to a rise in the 2-m air temperature, with rain recorded when temperatures exceeded 0 °C. The median cumulative freezing rain showed a 34.4 % decrease, while time for the median temperature to reach 0 °C decreased by 2.5 h. The results from the model suggest that temperature advection played a role in balancing the precipitation phase change. This study contributes to our knowledge of processes associated with maintaining or stopping freezing rain and improves our ability to mitigate its hazards.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108120