Methods to model wet snow accretion on structures are developed and improved, based on unique records of wet snow icing events as well as large datasets of observed and simulated weather. Hundreds of observed wet snow icing events are logged in detail in an icing database, most of which include an estimate of the mean and maximum diameter of observed icing on overhead power conductors. Observations of weather are furthermore available from a dense network of weather stations. The existing models for wet snow accretion on a standard cylinder are updated with realistic values for the terminal fall speed of wet snowflakes together with a snowflake liquid fraction-based criterion to identify wet snow. The widely used parameterization of the sticking efficiency is found to strongly underestimate the accretion rate. A calibrated parameterization of the sticking efficiency is suggested on the basis of long-term statistics of observed and modeled wet snow loads. Application of the improved method is demonstrated in a high-resolution simulation for a case of observed widespread and intensive wet snow icing in south Iceland. The results form a basis for mapping the climatology of wet snow icing in the complex terrain of Iceland as well as for preparing operational forecasts of wet snow icing and severe weather for overhead power transmission lines in complex terrain.
In-cloud icing on aircraft and ground structures can be observed every winter in many countries. In extreme cases ice can cause accidents and damage to infrastructure such as power transmission lines, telecommunication towers, wind turbines, ski lifts, and so on. This study investigates the potential for predicting episodes of in-cloud icing at ground level using a state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction model. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is applied, with attention paid to the model's skill to explicitly predict the amount of supercooled cloud liquid water content (SLWC) at the ground level at different horizontal resolutions and with different cloud microphysics schemes. The paper also discusses how well the median volume droplet diameter (MVD) can be diagnosed from the model output. A unique dataset of direct measurements of SLWC and MVD at ground level on a hilltop in northern Finland is used for validation. A mean absolute error of predicted SLWC as low as 0.08 g m 23 is obtained when the highest model resolution is applied (grid spacing equal to 0.333 km), together with the Thompson microphysics scheme. The quality of the SLWC predictions decreases dramatically with decreasing model resolution, and a systematic difference in predictive skill is found between the cloud microphysics schemes applied. A comparison between measured and predicted MVD shows that when prescribing the droplet concentration equal to 250 cm 23 the model predicts MVDs ranging from 12 to 20 mm, which corresponds well to the measured range. However, the variation from case to case is not captured by the current cloud microphysics schemes.
[1] A mesoscale atmospheric model, the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF), was used for a case study that reconstructs mid-spring episodes of rime formation at Mt. Zao, Japan. One particularly interesting and rare form of rime was observed. The formations were feathery, opaque aggregates of granular ice 15-30 cm long, called "shrimp tails" in Japanese. Based on an analysis of model-generated results, we find good quantitative agreement of modeled and observed wind and temperature time series at Jizosancho ropeway station. We identified two icing events (lasting for 36 and 41 h respectively, with surface air temperatures between À6.3 and À0.1 C, relatively constant westerly winds up to 26 m s À1 , and maximum cloud liquid water contents (LWC) between 0.72 and 1.05 g m À3). We confirmed that high-resolution modeling (1.1 km grid spacing) was much more accurate than simulations with coarser grids (10 and 3.3 km). The LWC during the formation period of this rare type of icing was estimated for the first time using the WRF model at Mt. Zao, and it was found to be up to several times higher than values previously used in experimental studies. We found that the joint wind speed-air temperature distribution for this type of "tail" rime was more similar to that of a hard rime or glaze, than to a soft rime. We explain the formation of "shrimp tails" by wind impact angle and report previously made laboratory results on its effect on the droplet collision efficiency and the density of rime ice.
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