Paul Sisson, SOO at BTV, has asked about freezing level data in RUC2. There is only 1 right now, and it's the first freezing level looking from the bottom up. Geoff DiMego said that the Eta has a second freezing level looking from top-downward, so we have put down a "top-down" freezing level as another field to add to RUC2 output. Are there others?

Regarding situations for potential freezing precip, the categorical precip types now in RUC2 should be very useful. There are categorical yes/no values at each grid point for rain, freezing rain, snow, and ice pellets. They are based on the fall rates at the surface from the explicit microphysics from MM5 being used in RUC2, so there is a lot of physics going into them. We certainly will be interested in opinions about these fields. Also, there is an explicit snow accumulation forecast, not diagnosed, but taken directly from the microphysics.

Stan