Heads or Tails: Hoarfrost

On January 10th, I took photos of what I thought was wind blown ice formations on the Missisquoi River during the January thaw. I was wrong. What I saw is more interesting than that. It is surface hoar, a type of hoarfrost. You can see it in the above photo at the edges of the snow. In the photo below, it is in the foreground and looks like diamonds in the sun.

The Guide to Frost at SnowCrystals.com describes surface hoar:

The most common form of hoarfrost is called surface hoar. This consists of ice crystals that form on top of snow banks, usually overnight. The sparkles you see coming from a field of snow are often reflections off the facets of surface hoar crystals.

Surface hoar typically forms when a snowbank warms up during the day and is then cooled again overnight. The night air cools the surface of the snowbank more than the inside, so that water can evaporate from inside the snowbank and recrystalize on the surface. By morning the snowbank is covered with a layer of faceted ice crystals, and they can be quite large. These usually melt again once the sun comes up, so the best time to find surface hoar is early in the morning.

Surface hoar is a delight for our eyes.

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Wordless Wednesday: January Sunset Vignettes

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January Thaw In The Woods

I have three brooks on my property behind the house and up the hills in the woods. I had to overexpose this photo in order for you to see the clear cold water in this brook. You can hear the beautiful melody of rushing water everywhere. I was in snow up to my waist (in my school clothes: I couldn't wait to change and get out there) and came into the house soaking wet. I could not get to the glacial boulders or caves to show you the brook there as it tumbles downhill over glacial erratics. But everywhere there were snowshoe hare, rabbit and red squirrel tracks. No deer or moose trails, which was a disappointment. This will be the last time I will be able to go out there until the spring (unless I buy snowshoes). The snow will only get deeper. See more at my photo blog. And please click on this photo to view it full size. This is part of the area where Buddy and I played last spring. Amy had tossed Buddy and Charlie outside today and Buddy tried to follow me up the hill. I saw, by his tracks, that he was stepping in my tracks. Kitties don't like snow that is too deep, so he turned around halfway to the base of the hill and waited for me in the garage.

Technorati Tags: January thaw
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