Freezing level.

[tim]

Metcheck gives 0C tonight. But then says that the 0C level is 2350m.

??

[tim]

[Curryandchips]

Funny old thing, 0C. Water can be either liquid or solid (ice) at this temperature. The only difference is the amount of energy in the material. Sorry to get all technical here, but that is what it is really. Thus, if you were looking at a map showing isotherms, ie temperature spread over an area, then you would expect to see a wider band or zone around 0C, whether you are looking at a conventional map on the ground, or displaying the temperature at various heights.

So the metcheck forecast is probably as accurate as any forecast can be, ie it is not an error.

I wish I hadn't attempted to try and explain this now  :-[

[Svea]

i get you, curry.

[grawrc]

Mmmmm  ???

[tim]

Uh?

If it's 0C on the ground, it must be -7.5C at 2350m??

[Curryandchips]

Perhaps no Tim, if it is 0C and wet at ground level, then it can be 0C and ice at 2350, (presumably, since I dont know the correct meteorolical correllation).

[Robert_Brenchley]

Water might be, temporarily at least, but the air won't! That only applies to H20, due to its being precisely at its freezing point. So if you get snowfall on a mountainside overnight, say, you get a clear snowline where the air reached freezing point at the time, but streams well above that will still be running, perhaps with little or no ice.