A Winter Weather Climatology for the Southeastern United States

Christopher Fuhrmann and Charles E. Konrad, II

Department of Geography
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The diurnal patterns of each precipitation type are generally quite variable. For instance, most sampled stations show a maximum in freezing rain frequency occurring just before and after sunrise when the diurnal temperature range is typically at a minimum. Further, observations of freezing rain are relatively suppressed during the afternoon hours when the diurnal temperature range is typically at a maximum. This period of suppression tends to occur a few hours later in the Piedmont and coastal plain than at higher elevations. In regards to snowfall, these patterns shift somewhat with an early to late morning maximum in the mountains and portions of the southern Piedmont with a broader morning maximum in the northern Piedmont and coastal plain. Most of the sampled stations exhibit a mid afternoon period of suppressed snowfall activity, although this pattern shifts somewhat to the evening hours at some stations.

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