Enroute Icing

### Produced by The COMET® Program

### Step 1: Diagnosing Locations of Icing » Skew-T/Log-P » Advantages and Limitations

Skew-T/Log-P diagrams plotting data from radiosondes have the following advantages. They are highly accurate and let you see multiple layers with a high risk for icing. In addition, they can be used to determine if moist layers colder than about -22°C are present, which will produce ice crystals that remove supercooled water. Finally, radiosonde data can be used with satellite and surface data to better specify icing levels.

But data from radiosondes have limitations. The data are sparse and usually taken only every 12 hours. In addition, they only represent a small area around the launch site. In fact, they may not be representative at all if the balloon rises through a local phenomenon, such as a convective cell.