  An accurate experimental investigation on the Mpemba effect (that is, the
freezing of initially hot water before cold one) is carried out, showing that
in the adiabatic cooling of water a relevant role is played by supercooling as
well as by phase transitions taking place at 6 +/- 1 oC, 3.5 +/- 0.5 oC and 1.3
+/- 0.6 oC, respectively. The last transition, occurring with a non negligible
probability of 0.21, has not been detected earlier. Supported by the
experimental results achieved, a thorough theoretical analysis of supercooling
and such phase transitions, which are interpreted in terms of different
ordering of clusters of molecules in water, is given.
