GC: n

S: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wea.6080570409/pdf (last access: 15 July 2015); http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00477254#page-1 (last access: 15 July 2015).

N: 1. “hoarfrost,” Old English hrim, from Proto-Germanic *khrima- (cognates: Old Norse hrim, Dutch rijm, German Reif). Old French rime is of Germanic origin. Rare in Middle English, surviving mainly in Scottish and northern English, revived in literary use late 18c.
2. Deposit of ice generally formed by the freezing of supercooled fog or cloud droplets on objects the surface temperature of which is below or slightly above 0˚C.
3. White, opaque, granular deposit of ice crystals formed on objects that are at a temperature below the freezing point. Rime occurs when supercooled water droplets (at a temperature lower than 0° C (32° F)) in fog come in contact with a surface that is also at a temperature below freezing; the droplets are so small that they freeze almost immediately upon contact with the object. Rime is common on windward upper slopes of mountains that are enveloped by supercooled clouds.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=rime (last access: 15 July 2015). 2. METEOTERM/International Meteorological Vocabulary, WMO – No. 182 (last access: 15 July 2015). 3. EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/science/rime-weather (last access: 15 July 2015).

SYN:
S:

CR: freezing fog, frost, glaze, hail, hailstone, hoar frost, sleet, small hail.