I love many things about this state. Its coldest weather does not make the list.
This winter’s cocktail of sub-zero temperatures, howling winds and almost weekly storm warnings has been a doozy to take in.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve occasionally tweeted and posted my displeasure along the way and, honestly, I’ve said a lot of regretful things about Mother Nature in general.
A change of heart came in a snowdrift, at 7 degrees below zero, as my camera battery was fading.
And here’s why, for all the trouble and misery extreme weather has brought along with it has come a raw beauty we rarely get to witness.
It started January 21, when cold temperatures, ice crystals and streetlights put on a light display that was nothing short of breath-taking.
Five days later, late night winds whipped across hills, fields and backyards to produce spirals of snow called “snow rollers.” I snapped several photos of the icy Cinnabon-looking snowballs and couldn’t help but feel a little bad for begrudging winter.
Finally, on Feb. 12, the latest of the series came, when I woke up to the excited chatter my family.
My dad stuck his head in my door, and said “You’re might want to take your camera out and get a few of these photos. Everything is white outdoors.”
I shook sleepiness – it took a couple tries – and went to the window and took a look. Thousands of square crystals lined every branch of the trees outside.
After some research and comparison of the photos, I discovered what I witnessed was the rare formation of hoar frost.
Encyclopedia Brittanica gives a succinct explanation of hoar frost for laymen like myself as a, “deposit of ice crystals on objects exposed to the free air, such as grass blades, tree branches, or leaves. It is formed by direct condensation of water vapour to ice at temperatures below freezing and occurs when air is brought to its frost point by cooling. Hoarfrost is formed by a process analogous to that by which dew is formed on similar objects, except that, in the case of dew, the saturation point of the air mass is above freezing.”
“The occurrence of temperatures below 0° C (32° F) is not enough to guarantee the formation of hoarfrost. Additionally, the air must be initially damp enough so that when cooled it reaches saturation, and any additional cooling will cause condensation to occur.”
The results spoke for themselves. The gallery to the side of this article is the result of a day spent in negative temperatures in early February. At the urging of my co-workers and friends, I’ve shared them with you to enjoy.
This season of winter weather is nothing short of extreme. It poses challenges, and is certainly not always fun. But in a place where, we already get to enjoy breadth of what our ecosystem has to offer, it has moments that are not replicable. In short, we survived the toughest the Mother Nature had to offer and got to witness some remarkable things along the way.
If winter has showed me anything, its that nature in all its raw cold can put on a beautiful display. And that’s something worth appreciating, even if in the snow bank while snapping pictures.
After all, for warm weather lovers like myself, happiness is just around the corner. If you are seeing the same things I’m seeing, the sun is already shining a little brighter and a little longer. Green things will appear soon – even if only the beer on March 17 and, in the worst case, we get one of those infamous snows in April.
Best of wishes to all of our readers and thank you for listening to my thoughts,
David Yoder, Editor
