How does freezing rain form?

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Multiple Choice

How does freezing rain form?

Freezing rain forms when liquid raindrops reach surfaces that are below freezing and freeze on contact, creating a glaze of ice. This happens because the air near the ground is cold enough to turn the raindrops into ice upon impact, but they stay liquid while falling through a shallow subfreezing layer near the surface after melting from snow higher up in the atmosphere. The rain begins as snow or ice aloft, melts into rain in a warm layer, then passes through a thin cold layer near the surface, remaining supercooled until it hits objects that are at or below 0°C. If the surface layer were deep and cold enough, the drops would refreeze before reaching the ground, producing sleet instead.

Freezing rain forms when liquid raindrops reach surfaces that are below freezing and freeze on contact, creating a glaze of ice. This happens because the air near the ground is cold enough to turn the raindrops into ice upon impact, but they stay liquid while falling through a shallow subfreezing layer near the surface after melting from snow higher up in the atmosphere. The rain begins as snow or ice aloft, melts into rain in a warm layer, then passes through a thin cold layer near the surface, remaining supercooled until it hits objects that are at or below 0°C. If the surface layer were deep and cold enough, the drops would refreeze before reaching the ground, producing sleet instead.

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