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Abstract
Variability in ice particle physical properties is one of the major error causes in radar quantitative precipitation estimation in snowfall. In this study, morphological analysis of polarimetric radar observations is used to identify dominating snow growth mechanisms. It is demonstrated that polarimetric measurements can be used to identify aggregation, riming, vapour deposition growth patterns as well as regions of intense secondary ice production. The polarimetric weather radar observations are compared against vertically pointing Doppler radar observations, which are used to identify different snow growth mechanisms. The proposed morphological analysis is then used to explain differ-ences in snow packing, ratio of snow depth change to accumulated liquid water equivalent, for three snowfall events that took place in southern Finland.