
TRR photos by Scott Rando
This is hoarfrost forming from moist air just above the water level of a small stream during a cold winter morning. A closer look shows some smaller tendrils growing off the main stems of ice; these form at exactly a 60-degree angle, or one sixth of what you see in a snow flake. This is an example of the crystalline molecular structure of water at work.
The ice of late winter
The season of winter has slightly less than two months to go before it officially ends; as to what winter does from now on weather-wise, that’s anyone’s guess. We’ve had some mild days in the 50s and also some sub-zero days and a moderate amount of frozen precipitation so far.