Louisiana Citizens Educated on Wintry Precipitation With Use of Donuts
(Lafayette, Louisiana) - A meteorologist has gone viral on social media after he used one of our favorite treats to explain the various forms of wintry precipitation.
The "meat" of winter is arriving in the Deep South, and many here may not be familiar with the various forms of precipitation you can get as temperatures near or dip below the freezing point.
Louisiana is bracing for a few rounds of winter precipitation, and what better way to better understand the various forms of it than by using donuts as a visual? I don't know about you, but sometimes visuals make things a lot easier to understand, and this time, with one of our favorite treats, we can better understand sleet, rain, snow, and freezing rain.
What is Freezing Rain
Rain freezes when precipitation falling to the ground passes through a shallow layer of air that is freezing. The rain freezes upon contact with something on the ground, or it can turn into sleet. Freezing rain occurs when snowflakes fall into a warmer layer of air and completely melt.
Sleet forms when the area of frozen air is deep enough that it turns the raindrops into sleet, and ice pellets form as they fall to the surface. Like snow, sleet can accumulate on cold surfaces, and the ice can be heavy. That is what causes issues for trees and power lines during a winter storm.
The weight of the ice that accumulates, the sleet, can at times be too much for tree branches or power lines to withstand.
What is Snow
For snow to reach the ground, the temperature between the clouds, from which the snow is falling, and the ground must be at or below freezing. If the snow passes through pockets of air above freezing, it can solidify into rain or sleet.
Snow can be heavy too, if enough accumulates on surfaces. However, unlike ice or slleet, snow isn't as dense.
Now that we have a very basic idea of wintry precipitation, let's return to the tutorial by Meteorologist Ricky Matthews. Below, he uses donuts and their layers to describe the various forms of precipitation.
As you can see here, rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow are all depicted with toppings on the donut, and honestly, I think this is genius. Oh, my favorite illustration here is the sleet with the sprinkles.
So, check it out, and I think that once you do, like me, you'll have a somewhat better understanding of wintry precipitation that could soon impact our area in the days ahead.
Lastly, after looking at this graphic below, am I the only one who is craving donuts now? No? Good!!
If you missed my previous post on the forecast for the end of the month in South Louisiana, here's a look at what could impact the region on January 30 and 31. These graphics were posted and shared by KATC TV-3 Chief Meteorologist Rob Perillo
We will continue to monitor the forecast as changes are expected a week out, and we will share all of that important information with you here and on-air.