Abstract:One severe freezing precipitation occurred over southern China in the early 2008. Using the Cloudsat products (ECMWF and radar reflectivity), from the cloud physics perspective, the main characteristics of cloud structure are studied based on sounding data and surface observations. The results indicate that there exists an obvious inversion layer, but it is not the only reason for freezing precipitation. Within a 10° latitude band from the Cloudsat orbit, there is a transition region, in the form of rain, freezing rain, ice pellets and snow, which is partially a consequence of size dependent differences in melting layer and low level subfreezing region. Combining with the vertical distribution of humidity, it shows that there exists abundant water vapor in the inversion layer. Compared with the soundings of Changsha station which is located at the Cloudsat orbit, the temperature of European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) is proved to be more correct than humidity. The radar reflectivity shows that there exists obvious signature of bright band during this freezing precipitation, which is just under the upper limit of 0 ℃ isotherm. The formation mechanism of “classical” melting process is demonstrated as the cause for freezing precipitation has been shown visually.