Recently, locals opened sleep-crusted peepers to a wonderland filled with crystal-coated grass, trees, bushes, and fence lines. While beautiful snow from a few days before still blanketed the country side, white lace added an over-the-top finish to an already lovely landscape. My mom would have smiled and said Jack Frost and his magic paint brush danced through the neighborhood during the night.
After sunrise, a few rays broke through wisps of lingering fog and struck tiny, icy spikes, fracturing light a dozen directions. Ignoring the cold, I wandered outside to inspect the wonders Mother Nature and her artistic friend had wrought.
The fuzzy spears covering our tree branches and pine needles appeared to be hoar frost. I googled that term for confirmation and discovered an option—rime ice, which, by the way, looks similar. How does a non-scientist tell the difference?
Several internet wizards explained hoar frost as a term that comes from an old English word “meaning frost resembling an old man’s beard.” Sure enough, our trees and bushes reminded me of old codger beards I’ve seen. However, based on information online scientists shared, non-experts (me) struggle to distinguish hoar frost from rime ice when they use only appearance to decide. To distinguish the two, a person must consider how hoar frost and rime ice form, especially since the end results look alike.
After reading a dozen accounts explaining cold weather phenomena, my brain turned as fuzzy as both hoar frost and rime ice look. I did learn that hoar frost needs freezing temps and clear skies with little or no wind in order to form. One meteorologist explained that when airborne vapor temperatures drop, they don’t become hoar frost until crystals form after water molecules actually contact frozen branches, grass, leaves, wire, etc. During warmer than freezing temps, dew forms instead.
That bit of confusion brings me to a new weather concept—rime ice. Another expert explained water droplets freeze first in the air and then attach to a branch, leaf, stem, wire, etc., creating rime ice. For the weather-impaired, that’s a hard concept to wrap the brain around. I picked up one helpful hint, and it involves fog. If you’ve ever stood outside in fog, you eventually wipe your spectacles dry at some point. If you remain long enough, clothes, skin, and hair get downright soggy. My mind created this visual for rime ice; freezing temperatures send fog-formed droplets present in the air to seek a landing zone (branch, leaf, fence, etc.) where they touch down and coat everything with a fuzzy white beard.
If these concepts come up during a hot trivia competition, remember science-based hints: hoar frost occurs on clear, frosty nights. Moisture-laden mist or fog produces rime ice. For those who approach the world from an imaginative angle, go with Mom’s explanation. Magically frosted pine needles and tree branches appear when a lively sprite named Jack zips about, unloading his crystal-filled brush to transform yards and countryside into fairyland.
Karen is a retired teacher, writer, photographer, outdoors lover, and sixth-generation Kansan. After a time away, she’s glad to be home.