The freezing level, or 0°C (zero-degree) isotherm, represents the altitude in which the temperature is at 0°C (the freezing point of water) in a free atmosphere (i.e. allowing reflection of the sun by snow, etc.). Any given measure is valid for only a short period of time, often less than a day.
Above the freezing level, the temperature of the air is below freezing. Below it, the temperature is above freezing. The profile of this frontier, and its variations, are studied in meteorology, and are used for a variety of forecasts and predictions. Whilst not given on general weather forecasts, it is used on bulletins giving forecasts for mountainous areas.
Read more about Freezing Level: Measuring, Characteristics, Variations in The Isotherm
Famous quotes containing the words freezing and/or level:
“. . . A widow bird sat mourning for her love
Upon a wintry bough;
The frozen wind crept on above,
The freezing stream below.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
“To punish drug takers is like a drunk striking the bleary face it sees in the mirror. Drugs will not be brought under control until society itself changes, enabling men to use them as primitive man did: welcoming the visions they provided not as fantasies, but as intimations of a different, and important, level of reality.”
—Brian Inglis (b. 1916)