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In reality, no, I don't think it can fall above 40 F but in my fake climate, it snows in the tropics. I made the fake climate before I learned to alter the wikipedia climate boxes but if anyone requests, I can create a wiki box for this climate; //www.city-data.com/forum/weath...mperature.html
Hail and snow are different in the way its formed. Hail is made by air lifting up in the clouds and the raindrops freeze and attach themselves and grow in size within the clouds until too heavy to support themselves in the updraft and so they fall.
Snow needs to have cold layers to support itself while falling. I've seen 42f and snow and temps drop as it does. There needs to be some serious cold air above and very close to the surface for it to snow at 55F. I'm sure it snows over the lakes and oceans when they are 55 but like I said, there needs to be some serious polar air right above surface..... but over land the question would be why would the surface stay that warm if its that cold above? It shouldn't and therefore this was a theoretical answer I believe.
Where I live, it sometimes rains when temperatures in the low 40s but it hasn't accumulated snow since 1976. Forecast calls for a low of 37 with a 40 percent chance of rain this Friday night. Is there any off chance, we could see SNOW fall and stick the ground or is there something about the stability of our climate that makes snow nearly impossible?
Last edited by AdriannaSmiling; 12-02-2013 at 09:12 PM..
Where I live, it sometimes rains when temperatures in the low 40s but it hasn't accumulated snow since 1976. Forecast calls for a low of 37 with a 40 percent chance of rain this Saturday night. Is there any off chance, we could see SNOW fall and stick the ground or is there something about the stability of our climate that makes snow nearly impossible?
Probably not. 37F with rain (often heavy) is very common here, but snow on the ground is about a one in forty year event, less than an inch - and there aren't even short lived flurries between those times, just rain.
Your area is probably similar to here, where the nearby sea always provides a pool of warm air nearby. The common sight of vertical cumulus over the sea during the winter months, indicates that there is no stable layer of cold air overhead.
Oh that sucks! If mid 30s and heavy rain is very common you would think the temp could at least dip to 33-34 with Precip once every few years. Cold rains also happen often here. Just a couple weeks ago we had a day with the temp stuck around 35 with a steady rain.
Probably not. 37F with rain (often heavy) is very common here, but snow on the ground is about a one in forty year event, less than an inch - and there aren't even short lived flurries between those times, just rain.
Your area is probably similar to here, where the nearby sea always provides a pool of warm air nearby. The common sight of vertical cumulus over the sea during the winter months, indicates that there is no stable layer of cold air overhead.
Good point. There needs to be cold air above for snow to fall. If it's 37F and the air above is warm, then it'll just rain. If it's 30F, you'll get freezing rain.
Snow accumulates with temps in upper 30s. Rate of fall has to be hard enough and as that happens the temp drops anyway. Happens all the time here. I suggest you start looking at observations, webcams, and reports out there to see this happens a lot. Start right now. See if there's a location where its snowing and temps were in the upper 30s. Not uncommon at all to stick and accumulate.
Good point. There needs to be cold air above for snow to fall. If it's 37F and the air above is warm, then it'll just rain. If it's 30F, you'll get freezing rain.
Once or twice a year here for freezing rain, usually early in the morning of a night that started off clear and frosty. I don't think there was any freezing rain this winter though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cloudcrash619
Oh that sucks! If mid 30s and heavy rain is very common you would think the temp could at least dip to 33-34 with Precip once every few years. Cold rains also happen often here. Just a couple weeks ago we had a day with the temp stuck around 35 with a steady rain.
Fine by me as I don't want it to snow here. I did enjoy it when it did snow here 2 years ago, but the local vegetation didn't cope very well with it. The 37F and rain scenario usually only happens around sunrise. By midday it would typically be 50-60F and raining
@ Cambium, Yeah with the snow storm that ran across Central MS and Alabama in January, snow was accumulating 1-3" with 35-36 degrees
Usually on a rainy day in the US the temperature will be around the same or only a couple degrees higher than the low.
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