Rimed snow
Encyclopedia
Rimed snow refers to snowflakes
that are partially or completely coated in tiny frozen water droplets called 'rime'. Rime forms on a snowflake when it passes through a super-cooled cloud. Snowflakes that are heavily rimed typically produce very heavy and wet snow, with snow to liquid ratios in the 5-1 (i.e. five inches of snow per inch of rain) to 9-1 range.
Rimed snow has been found to provide greater initial stability for a snow layer. However, it also allows thicker, and therefore less stable, snow layers to build up. It could be argued that these cancel each other out.
There has been research into the effect of rimed snow on avalanches.
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
that are partially or completely coated in tiny frozen water droplets called 'rime'. Rime forms on a snowflake when it passes through a super-cooled cloud. Snowflakes that are heavily rimed typically produce very heavy and wet snow, with snow to liquid ratios in the 5-1 (i.e. five inches of snow per inch of rain) to 9-1 range.
Rimed snow has been found to provide greater initial stability for a snow layer. However, it also allows thicker, and therefore less stable, snow layers to build up. It could be argued that these cancel each other out.
There has been research into the effect of rimed snow on avalanches.