It's in the 20s WHY is it RAINING?

Many people have been asking, why is it raining when temps are in the 20s? Shouldn't it be snowing? There's a simple answer for that......not always. When we forecast the weather here at the surface, we also have to know what the weather conditions are above us. If the temperatures aloft are warm enough, the precip falls as rain. It depends how "deep" the warm air aloft or cold air aloft is. The deeper the warm air is, the precip falls as rain. When there is a shallow layer of cold air at the surface with warm air aloft, that is a recipe for freezing rain. If there is a deeper layer of cold air with warm air aloft, the precip falls as sleet. When the entire column of air is below freezing then the precip falls as snow. There is your meteorological lesson for the day. If you have any weather questions, feel free to email me at weatherflagfamily [dot] com

Chief Meteorologist,

Dean Wysocki