Editing Freezing rain (section)

== Effects ==
{{Main|Glaze (ice)}}

=== At ground level ===
Freezing rain often causes major power outages by forming glaze ice.  When the freezing rain or drizzle is light and not prolonged, the ice formed is thin and usually causes only minor damage (relieving trees of their dead branches, etc.).<ref name="Glaze Ice">{{cite web|url=http://ecosys.cfl.scf.rncan.gc.ca/perturbation-disturbance/verglas-glaze-ice-eng.asp |title=Glaze Ice |access-date=2009-07-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715235211/http://ecosys.cfl.scf.rncan.gc.ca/perturbation-disturbance/verglas-glaze-ice-eng.asp |archive-date=2009-07-15 }}</ref> When large quantities accumulate, however, it is one of the most dangerous types of winter hazard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://weather.about.com/od/g/g/glaze.htm|title=Glaze Ice Definition|last=Oblack|first=Rachelle|access-date=2009-07-18|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822014756/http://weather.about.com/od/g/g/glaze.htm|archive-date=2008-08-22}}</ref>  When the ice layer exceeds approximately {{convert|0.25|in|mm|abbr=on|order=flip}} {{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}, tree limbs with branches heavily coated in ice can break off under the enormous weight and fall onto power lines. Windy conditions and [[lightning]], when present, will exacerbate the damage. Power lines coated with ice become extremely heavy, causing support poles, insulators and lines to break. The ice that forms on roadways makes vehicle travel dangerous. Unlike snow, wet ice provides almost no traction, and vehicles will slide even on gentle slopes.  Because freezing rain does not hit the ground as an ice pellet (called "sleet") but still as a rain droplet, it conforms to the shape of the ground, or object such as a tree branch or car. This makes one thick layer of [[ice]], often called "glaze".

Freezing rain and glaze ice on a large scale is called an [[ice storm]]. Effects on plants can be severe, as they cannot support the weight of the ice. Trees may snap as they are dormant and fragile during winter weather. Pine trees are also victims of ice storms as their needles will catch the ice, but not be able to support the weight.  In February 1994, a severe ice storm caused over $1 billion in damage in the Southern United States, primarily in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Western North Carolina, especially the Appalachians. One particularly severe ice storm struck eastern [[Canada]] and northern parts of [[New York (state)|New York]] and [[New England]] in the [[North American ice storm of 1998]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/weather/p/icestorm.htm|title=The Canadian ice storm of 1998|last=Munroe|first=Susan|access-date=2009-07-18|archive-date=2009-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303161930/http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/weather/p/icestorm.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Glaze Ice"/>
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Damaged trees in Ljubljana Trg MDB.jpeg|Tree downed by a thick layer of glaze in downtown [[Ljubljana]], [[Slovenia]]
File:Freezing Rain on Tree Branch.jpg|Glaze on a tree in La Malbaie, Quebec
File:Zlodowacenie - Marznący deszcz 6.JPG|Ice on coniferous tree in [[Tomaszów Mazowiecki]], [[Poland]]
File:Bent tree glaze ice Celje.jpg|A birch tree is badly bent under a thick layer of glaze ice in [[Celje]], [[Slovenia]]
File:Ice storm in moscow.JPG|Aftermath of freezing rain in [[Moscow Oblast]], [[Russia]], December 2010
File:Iced power lines.JPG|Power outages due to the weight of ice on lines or overhanging tree limbs
</gallery>

=== Aircraft ===
[[File:Wingice.JPG|thumb|Freezing ice on aircraft wing]]
Freezing rain is considered to be an extreme hazard to aircraft, as it causes very rapid structural [[Atmospheric icing|icing]], freezing necessary components.  Most [[helicopter]]s and small airplanes lack the necessary [[De-ice|deicing]] equipment to fly in freezing rain of any intensity, and heavy freezing rain can overwhelm even the most sophisticated deicing systems on large airplanes. Icing can increase an aircraft's weight but not typically enough to cause a hazard. The main danger comes from the ice changing the shape of its [[airfoil]]s. 
This will reduce [[Lift (force)|lift]] and increase [[Aerodynamic drag|drag]]. All three factors increase [[Stall (fluid dynamics)|stalling]] speed and reduce aircraft performance, making it very difficult to climb or even maintain altitude.

An aircraft can most easily avoid freezing rain by moving into warmer air. Under most conditions, this would require aircraft to descend, which it can usually do safely and easily even with a moderate accumulation of structural ice.  However, freezing rain is accompanied by a [[Inversion (meteorology)|temperature inversion]] aloft, meaning that aircraft are required to climb to move into warmer air, which is a potentially difficult and dangerous task with even a small amount of ice accumulation.

For example, in 1994, [[American Eagle Flight 4184]] encountered heavy air traffic and poor weather that postponed the arrival of this flight at [[Chicago]]'s [[O'Hare International Airport]], where it was to have landed en route from [[Indianapolis, Indiana]]. The ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop carrying 68 people, entered a holding pattern {{convert|65|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip|disp=or}} southeast of O'Hare. As the plane circled, supercooled cloud droplets, freezing rain or [[freezing drizzle]] formed a ridge of ice on the upper surface of its wings, eventually causing the aircraft's autopilot to suddenly disconnect and the pilots to lose control. The ATR disintegrated on impact with a field below; all passengers and crew were killed.

=== Ghost apples ===
On one occasion, freezing rain was observed to settle on hanging rotting apples and icing over them immediately, creating a [[Glaze (ice)|glaze]] coating. Because of apples' lower [[freezing point]] than water, under warmer temperature the apples defrosted before the ice did, then the rotting apple mush slipped out of the bottom, leaving icy shells.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web | url =https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47222907|title=Ghost apple: how the polar vortex creates the illusion|publisher=[[BBC]]| date=14 February 2019| accessdate =21 January 2024}}</ref> These icy shells in the form of apples were called ghost apples and were observed in [[Michigan]], United States<ref name="bbc"/> in February 2019. A similar phenomenon was observed in February 2015 in [[Greenville, North Carolina]], when a [[Jeep]] that had backed out of the parking lot left behind an ice shell of its lower front part (with [[Grille (car)|grille]] and [[Bumper (car)|bumper]]) standing on [[icicle]]s.<ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/parked-jeep-leaves-behind-ice-sculpture-n309031|title=Parked Jeep Leaves Behind Ice Sculpture|publisher=[[NBC News]]| date=19 February 2015| accessdate =21 January 2024}}</ref>