Freezing rain can never "see" directly freezing rain, rain or snow on weather radars, Doppler or conventional. However, it is possible to estimate the area covered by freezing rain with radars indirectly. The intensity of the radar echoes (reflectivity) is proportional to the form (water or ice) of the precipitation and its diameter. In fact, rain has much stronger reflective power than snow but its diameter is much smaller. So the reflectivity of rain coming from melted snow is only slightly higher. However, in the layer where the snow is melting, the wet flakes still have a large diameter and are coated
2005 United Kingdom snow events North Yorkshire received 20 cm of snow over high ground, whilst the snow caused huge tailbacks on the A1 between Alnwick and Berwick. The snow showers petered later on the 29th as outbreaks of rain, sleet and hill snow moved into western areas. On Friday 30 December, a band of heavy rain pushed eastwards, with heavy snow on the leading edge. This brought several hours of snow followed by rain, where 20 cm fell in some parts of Yorkshire, with snowdrifts of 1 metre reported. The snow caused hundreds of drivers to be stranded on the A1079 during the late