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| Photo Credit: Pixabay Images |
By: Mia Clementi
Ever wonder why some winter mornings you wake up and look outside to see the trees glistening with what looks like a fresh coat of icicles painted onto each branch? You know… the mornings where it feels like you just stepped into a winter wonderland in one of those Hallmark movies? Well this magical experience is not actually magic at all. It is a winter phenomenon that occurs when the conditions are just right. This is called hoarfrost. Hoarfrost is not like your regular old windshield frost we typically see on cold winter mornings. It occurs when moisture in the air skips the droplet stage and freezes instantly onto an object. This is only able to happen when the air and the object itself is at or below freezing. Different from regular frost, hoarfrost requires the surrounding air to be much more moist. This moisture can come from a variety of sources. It can come from humid air simply moving into the area with our regular weather pattern, or it can be from moisture being released from a nearby unfrozen lake or stream.
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| Photo credit: Colleen Hart The Weather Channel Facebook page |
So why does hoarfrost look so different from regular old windshield frost? The answer is in the way it “grows.” Hoarfrost develops long ice needles that “grow” as more water droplets come into contact with the below freezing object, such as a branch on a tree or a fence. This is what gives the trees a hairy-like effect on those winter wonderland mornings. Sometimes we can see these needles more prominently growing in one direction or on one side of the tree. This is because hoarfrost “grows” in the direction with which the moisture is arriving from. This hairy-like effect is actually what gave it its name. The word hoarfrost is of English descent describing the resemblance of an old man’s beard. So next time you go outside and see the trees glistening with brand new ice crystals you can think it’s as though the trees grew a new beard to help them weather the harsh winter cold.
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| Photo Credit: Michael Fox |
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