Normally we expect it to rain when temperatures are above zero, and hail or snow when they fall below this limit, but there is a strange exception called freezing rain.
Scientists have just registered that exception in an unexpected place.
The freezing drizzle happens sometimes when the temperatures fall a little below zero but the water does not freeze forming crystals and remains in superfluous liquid.
It is a dangerous phenomenon because the drops, upon coming into contact with the ground, freeze immediately forming what is known as black ice, a thin layer of ice that hinders the movement of vehicles.
But not only has it happened, but it has done so for hours.
The instruments of the station and others via satellite have confirmed the phenomenon at temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius below zero and for at least seven and a half hours.
The reason why this phenomenon occurs is that water remains liquid at such low temperatures has to do with cleaning the air.
For crystals to form, there must be a certain level of atmospheric impurities around which ice forms.
Israel Silber, a meteorologist in the department of atmospheric sciences at Penn State University and lead author of the study explains that freezing drizzle is not something unknown to science.
What is rare is that it is formed at such low temperatures and consistently over time.
Silber and his team believe that the study of this phenomenon is necessary to adjust the climate models of Antarctica, and the first step is to look for the exact cause of this peculiar type of rainfall in polar latitudes.
Source: Laverdad
