Hoarfrost

[Scott Weberpal]

We had a nice hoarfrost event this morning in S. Wisconsin. Looking at the surface obs, most of S. WI and MN had perfect conditions for hoarfrost formation (calm winds, near-surface saturation, temps between 0F and 25F). We dropped to about 10F this morning with dense fog, and after about 9:00 am the fog cleared giving way to bright blue skies creating a perfect backdrop. Did anyone else have the same fantastic view I did this morning?

Here are a few of my images...

Larger images...

http://www.tornadofx.com/stormtrack/012209_02.jpg
http://www.tornadofx.com/stormtrack/012209_03.jpg
http://www.tornadofx.com/stormtrack/012209_04.jpg
http://www.tornadofx.com/stormtrack/012209_05.jpg
http://www.tornadofx.com/stormtrack/012209_06.jpg
http://www.tornadofx.com/stormtrack/012209_07.jpg
http://www.tornadofx.com/stormtrack/012209_08.jpg

 

[Jim Saueressig]

That is pretty awesome looking against a blue sky with snow on the ground.

 

[Christine Hudnall]

"Did anyone else have the same fantastic view I did this morning?"

No!

Those are beautiful... lucky you!

 

[Paul Austin]

"Did anyone else have the same fantastic view I did this morning?"

No!

Those are beautiful... lucky you!

Ditto. I miss the seasons, though it did drop into the 20's over a substantial part of FL this week.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Looks very nice - although if you had dense (and I guess freezing) fog, then it would be rime, rather than hoar frost.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

Looks very nice - although if you had dense (and I guess freezing) fog, then it would be rime, rather than hoar frost.

Rime is direct deposition of liquid droplets onto a surface, hoar is deposition of vapor onto a surface. Large crystal growth in my pictures indicates hoar.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Fair enough - I guess as long as the surface temps were below the dewpoint then hoar was possible - I've seen rime looking very similar to this though!

 

[Paul Hadfield]

"Tis' the Season" once again for Hoar Frost so with the event we experienced from yesterday, figured I'd swing by and resurrect Scott's thread. Stuff like this makes photography all the more enjoyable...

More (for now anyways) on my blog.

 

[Jason Foster]

That certainly is a northern event as we have never had that kind of frost here (at least in my 30+ years). There are just some extremes (like rime ice) that is just totally awesome and unique enough to warrant a trip just to witness it if you don't normally get it.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

That certainly is a northern event as we have never had that kind of frost here (at least in my 30+ years). There are just some extremes (like rime ice) that is just totally awesome and unique enough to warrant a trip just to witness it if you don't normally get it.

I think it more has to do with you living in a major metro area, than the latitudinal range. This phenomena has been witness (as far as I know) well into Kansas and even further south. It involves temperatures to be near 0F with similar dewpoints as "fog" is needed for the ice crystals to grow. Any slight separation of temp and dewpoint due to urban heat island is going to eliminate any chance of hoar.

 

[Joel Wright]

Great pictures guys! This is a great time of year for this type of setup. In fact, after seeing the pics in this thread I found some pictures I took exactly two years ago today on 12/30/07. Here are a few of them

 

[Michael Riedl]

We had some on Tuesday but the Picture Opportunities were poor because of DENSE fog.