Improvements to melting snow behavior in a bulk microphysics scheme

Most microphysical parameterizations in numerical weather prediction models typically only represent purely solid or liquid hydrometeors. Generally, this has been an acceptable compromise since the melting layer is typically very shallow and adding a mixed solid/liquid particle type would result in increased computational time.

This research shows how improvements were made to the treatment of melting snow in a microphysical parameterization within the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model by implementing an approximation of snowflake melted fraction together with a physically based expression for melting particle terminal velocity. In addition, the more appropriate definition of melting level defined by the wet-bulb temperature was consistently used in various process rates, all while not adding additional prognostic variables that would add computational cost.