COMPARISON OF THE RIMING GROWTH OF SNOW PARTICLES BETWEEN COASTAL AND INLAND AREAS

It is of importance to study the regional characteristics of the snowfall-formation mechanism in order to lessen and possibly prevent damage caused by heavy snowfalls. Therefore, snowfalls were observed in areas toward the Japan Sea, Japan, paying attention to the riming growth of snow particles for the purpose of studying the regional characteristics of the snowfall-formation mechanism. The observational results can be summarized as follows. Snowfall, in which the riming process was predominant in the growth of snow particles (snow particles having a mass of rime more than 50 % of the total mass), accounted for about 70 % of the total snowfalls in coastal areas. On the other hand, the riming process accounted for about 40 % of the total snowfalls in inland areas. On the bases of this and other observational results, it was clarified that the riming process plays an important role in the growth of snow particles in coastal areas, whereas in inland areas the role is not so important. It was shown that the contribution of the riming process to the growth of snow particles is controlled by meteorological conditions. Favorable meteorological conditions are found more frequently in coastal areas than in inland areas. These observational facts explain why the riming process is predominant in the growth of snow particles in coastal areas and not in inland areas.