Articles | Volume 17, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-243-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-243-2017
Research article
 | 
22 Feb 2017
Research article |  | 22 Feb 2017

A method to estimate freezing rain climatology from ERA-Interim reanalysis over Europe

Matti Kämäräinen, Otto Hyvärinen, Kirsti Jylhä, Andrea Vajda, Simo Neiglick, Jaakko Nuottokari, and Hilppa Gregow

Abstract. A method for estimating the occurrence of freezing rain (FZRA) in gridded atmospheric data sets was evaluated, calibrated against SYNOP weather station observations, and applied to the ERA-Interim reanalysis for climatological studies of the phenomenon. The algorithm, originally developed at the Finnish Meteorological Institute for detecting the precipitation type in numerical weather prediction, uses vertical profiles of relative humidity and temperature as input. Reanalysis data in 6 h time resolution were analysed over Europe for the period 1979–2014. Mean annual and monthly numbers of FZRA events, as well as probabilities of duration and spatial extent of events, were then derived. The algorithm was able to accurately reproduce the observed, spatially averaged interannual variability of FZRA (correlation 0.90) during the 36-year period, but at station level rather low validation and cross-validation statistics were achieved (mean correlation 0.38). Coarse-grid resolution of the reanalysis and misclassifications to other freezing phenomena in SYNOP observations, such as ice pellets and freezing drizzle, contribute to the low validation results at station level. Although the derived gridded climatology is preliminary, it may be useful, for example, in safety assessments of critical infrastructure.

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Short summary
Freezing rain is a high-impact wintertime weather phenomenon. The direct damage it causes to critical infrastructure (transportation, communication and energy) and forestry can be substantial. In this work a method for estimating the occurrence of freezing rain was evaluated and used to derive the climatology. The method was able to accurately reproduce the observed, spatially aggregated annual variability. The highest frequencies of freezing rain were found in eastern and central Europe.
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