Episode Analysis of the Habit and Phase Changes of Snow Crystals in the Wintertime Yeongdong Region

겨울철 영동지역 눈 결정 습성과 성상 변화 에피소드 분석

The Yeongdong region has suffered from severe snowstorms and the relevant damage such as traffic accidents on slippery roads, and the collapse of greenhouses and temporary buildings. While a lot of research on snowfall has been conducted, the detailed study of snow crystals' phase and habit through intensive observations and the relevant microphysical analysis is still lacking. Therefore, a snowflake camera, PARSIVEL, and intensive radiosonde soundings were utilized to investigate phase and habit changes in solid precipitation. Two remarkable episodes of phase and habit changes were selected such as 19 March 2022 and 15 February 2023. Both events occurred in the synoptic condition of the High in the north and the Low passing by the south, which was accompanied by rapid temperature cooling below 2.5 km. During the events of a short period between 3 to 6 hours, the temperature at 850 hPa decreased by about 4 to 6℃. This cooling led to a change in the main habit of snow particles from riming to aggregate, identified with both MASC and PARSIVEL. Meanwhile, the LDAPS model analyses do not successively represent the rapid cooling and short-term variations of solid precipitation, probably by virtue of overestimating low-level equivalent potential temperature during these periods. The underlying causes of these the low-level temperature variations within 6 hours, still remain unclear. It might be associated with mesoscale orographic phenomenon due to the mountains and East Sea effects, which certainly needs an intensive and comprehensive observation campaign.