• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.31-49
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• 2015

From the hourly data of 75 Korean weather stations over a 12-year period (2001~2012), this study has chosen three cases (January 12, 2006; January 11, 2008; and February 22, 2009) of multiple freezing rains and investigated the atmospheric circulations that seemed to cause the events. As a result, the receding high pressure type (2006), prevailing high pressure type (2008), and warm front type (2009) are confirmed as synoptic patterns. In all three cases, freezing rain was found in regions with a strong ascending current near the end point of a low-level jet that carried the warm humid air from low latitudes. The strong ascending current resulted from lower-level convergence and upper-level divergence. In 2006 and 2009, the melting process was confirmed. In 2008, the supercooled warm rain process (SWRP) was confirmed. In contrast to existing SWRP theory, it was found that the cool air produced at the middle atmosphere and near the earth's surface led to the formation of freezing rain. The sources of this cool air were supposed to be the evaporative latent heat and the cold advection coming from the northeast. On the other hand, a special case was detected, in which the freezing rain occurred when both the soil surface temperature and surface air temperature were above $0^{\circ}C$. The thickness distributions related to freezing rain in Korea were found to be similar to those in North America. A P-type nomogram was considered for freezing rain forecasting; however, it was not relevant enough to Korea, and few modifications were needed.