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Freezing rain is a type of precipitation that begins as snow at higher altitude, falling from a cloud towards earth, melts completely on its way down while passing through a layer of air above freezing temperature, and then encounters a layer below freezing at lower level to become supercooled. This water will then freeze upon impact of any object it then encounters.^[1] The ice can accumulate to a thickness of several centimetres, called glaze ice. The METAR code for freezing rain is FZRA.^[2] (see freezing drizzle for another way of forming ice accretion)

How freezing rain forms, from Snow through the warm layer and then into the "Supercooled Stage"

Usually freezing rain is associated with the approach of a warm front when cold air, at or below freezing temperature, is trapped in the lower levels of the atmosphere as warmth streams in aloft.^[3] This happens, for instance, when a low pressure system moves from the Mississippi River Valley toward the Appalachian mountains and the Saint Lawrence River Valley of North America, in the cold season, and there is a strong high pressure system sitting further East. The warm air from the Gulf of Mexico is often the fuel for freezing precipitation.

Freezing rain develops as falling snow encounters a layer of warm air usually around 800 mbar (800 hPa)level, then the snow completely melts and becomes rain. As the rain continues to fall, it passes through a thin layer of cold air just above the surface and cools to a temperature below freezing (0 °C). However, the drops themselves do not freeze, a phenomena called supercooling (or forming "supercooled drops"). When the supercooled drops strike a ground below 0 °C or anything else below 0 °C (power lines, or tree branches), they instantly freeze, forming a thin film of ice, hence freezing rain.^[4]

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Echoes at 1.5 km altitude at the top with strong contamination from the brightband (yellows). The vertical cut at the bottom show that this strong return is only above ground (Source: Environment Canada).

Surface observations by manned or automatic stations are the only direct confirmation of freezing rain. One can never see directly freezing rain, rain or snow on weather radars, Doppler or conventional. However, it is possible to estimate the area covered by freezing rain with radars indirectly.

The intensity of the radar echoes (reflectivity) is proportional to the form (water or ice) of the precipitation and its diameter. In fact, rain has much stronger reflective power than snow but its diameter is much smaller. So the reflectivity of rain coming from melted snow is only slightly higher. However, in the layer where the snow is melting, the wet flakes still have a large diameter and are coated with water so the returns to the radar is much stronger.

The presence of this brightband indicates that there is a warm layer above ground where snow melts. This could be producing rain on the ground or the possibility of freezing rain if the temperature is below freezing. This artifact can be located, like on the image at left, with a cross-section through radar data. The height and slope of the brightband will give clues to the extent of the region where melting occurs. Then it is possible to associate this clue with surface observations and numerical models prediction to produce output such as the ones seen on television weather programs that divide radar echoes into rain, mixed and snow precipitations.

Iced power lines threaten power outage to many after a powerful ice storm

Ice glaze on crabapple

Ice glaze on Grass

Freezing rain often causes major power outages. Power lines coated with ice become extremely heavy, causing support poles, insulators and lines to break. Tree limbs with branches heavily coated in ice also can break off under the enormous weight and fall onto power lines. The ice that forms on roadways makes vehicle travel dangerous. Unlike snow, wet ice provides almost no traction, and vehicles will slide even on gentle slopes. Because freezing rain does not hit the ground as an ice pellet and is still a rain droplet when it makes contact with the ground, the freezing rain conforms to the shape of the ground, making one thick layer of ice, often called glaze. Because sleet is in pellet form it can be easily moved around, unlike freezing rain which is a continuous layer of ice and cannot be moved around.

Freezing rain and glaze measured on a large scale is called an ice storm. Effects on plants can be severe, as they cannot support the weight of the ice. Trees may snap as they are dormant and fragile during winter weather. Pine trees are also victims of ice storms as their needles will catch the ice, but not be able to support the weight.

One particularly severe ice storm struck eastern Canada and northern parts of New York and New England in January of 1998; for details see 1998 Ice Storm.

A severe ice storm caused over $1 billion in damage in the Southern United States in February 1994, primarily in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama.

In 1994, American Eagle Flight 4184 encountered heavy air traffic and poor weather that postponed the arrival of this flight at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, where it was to have landed en route from Indianapolis, Indiana. The ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop carrying 68 people, entered a holding pattern 65 miles southeast of O'Hare. As the plane circled, freezing rain formed a ridge of ice on the upper surface of its wings, eventually causing the aircraft's autopilot to suddenly disconnect and the pilots to lose control. The ATR disintegrated on impact with a field below, killing everyone aboard.

• 1998 Ice Storm
• Freezing drizzle
• Hail
• Sleet
• Wintry showers

• Canadian ice storm of 1998
• Climatology of freezing rain
• Video of Ice-storm
• Graphic Explanation