We had an ice storm today, which is to say we had an extended period of freezing rain that covered everything in an impressive slick of ice.
Freezing Rain is rain that freezes as soon as it hits the ground (or the trees, homes, cars, etc.). It occurs every now and then during winter, but is rarely sustained. Today it lasted several hours and a nice coating of ice formed on everything. I drove to school to fill the liquid nitrogen at our lab, and whilst the roads were ok, the paths at school were downright treacherous. I regretted not bringing my camera, since the large evergreens were beautiful bowing down under the additional weight of their unwanted silvery coats.
When I got home I went out and took some shots, in the hope that those of you who have never seen this can get an idea of what it is like…
< Grass
< A shrub in our backyard
< Detail of the above
< Solar light and holly
< Seed pod on the tree out front
Some branches came down, although none larger than about an inch in diameter. I just went out now (about 4pm) to collect them up and assess any damage (luckily, there was none) and noticed much of the ice has melted away as the day had warmed slightly.
I'm glad I took the photos, since the beauty of this morning now seems lost.
Amazing photos. It’s been very cold here, but we’ve had no ice storms. I can’t imagine how cold it would have to be to cause that.
Yesterday it was about 20F. Extreme cold doesn’t cause this, because if it’s too cold the rain freezes in the atmosphere and becomes snow. What is needed is a strange combination of above freezing ‘up there’ and below freezing at ground level.