Snowfall Characteristic Statistics and Precipitation Phase Identification at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport
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Abstract
Using hourly surface meteorological observation data of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (hereinafter referred to as Chongqing Jiangbei Airport) from 2001 to 2023 and the sounding data from Shapingba Station, the characteristics of snowfall weather at Chongqing Jiangbei Airport were statistically analyzed. At the same time, the temperature distribution characteristics in lower atmosphere during snowfall were analyzed to identify temperature indicators that can be used to determine precipitation phases. It is found that Chongqing Jiangbei Airport experiences snowfall every 3.5 years on average, and that snowfall occurs only in December, January, and February, with January accounting for the highest percentage. In terms of daily variability, snowfall occurs the most in the morning and the least from evening to night. The snowfall phase is mainly characterized by sleet or a mixture of sleet and snow, with a duration mostly within 12 h. In the 31 snowfall cases, the temperature of a certain altitude is sorted from low to high to form a dataset, and the temperatures at the maximum, 90th percentile, and 75th percentile are respectively taken as three sets of temperature indicators for the phase transition of precipitation. It has been verified that when the temperature at the 90th percentile, namely the temperatures at the 2 m, 925 hPa, and 850 hPa levels, are 2.9 ℃, 0.2 ℃, and -4.1 ℃, respectively, the identification of precipitation phase is optimal. In the low-temperature precipitation forecasts in 2024, the precipitation phase was accurately identified in all the cases.
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