Picspam: Last night's ice storm

[bironic]

Before Valentine's Day, we hadn't had an ice storm in years. Now we've had another one on St. Patrick's Day. The weather feels like celebrating this year, I suppose.

It has come to my attention that some of you have never seen an ice storm or even heard of one. You're missing out! They happen when supercooled rain freezes on impact, leaving everything from the ground to the treetops coated in smooth, clear ice and dripping with icicles. If a lot of ice accumulates, branches and telephone wires sag under the weight. When the sun comes out, the world sparkles. It's simple, it's dangerous, and it's beautiful.

The tricky thing about ice storms around here is that it's usually warm enough that when the sun comes out, the ice melts, so you're left with only a narrow window to gaze in delight and to snap photos. My digital camera leaves a lot to be desired too, so these shots really don't do the sight in our yard this morning justice.

Nevertheless. For those of you who love ice storms or want to know what one/ours looks like, here are some glimpses of the remnants of last night's storm.


The aforementioned telephone wires:





These two shots were the best of the bunch for showing how things look overall:










Some detail shots. You can really see how the tubes of ice form around tree branches, buds and leaves:














Annnnd some random shots.






Memoryfest 1 people may remember a story about a tree I planted the day I won an INXS cassette tape. This is it:






Finally the sun came out and lit everything up like cut glass. You can almost tell:






ETA: Sunny and melting all over the place.




Quick attempt to capture the beauty while in the car (no, I wasn't the one driving):

Comments

[rivers-bend.livejournal.com]

Whenever I hear the words 'ice storm' I think of the film, and of the devastating ice storm my aunt and uncle had in VT several years ago that destroyed half their property.

So they scare me.

but that one looks beautiful.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I should probably mention that they can be horrifically dangerous. Slippery and heavy. It was difficult driving home last night and very hard to walk outside this morning -- no traction at all, and impossible on slopes. Sorry to hear about your family's property damage. :(

"The Ice Storm" was indeed a great movie and book! The image of you-know-who sliding down the hill till he hit the guardrail was so powerful.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Beautiful photos! The large tree is especially lovely in the sun. Something like that might make a really nice icon.

Ice storms are much more common here than snow, unfortunately, although we haven't had much of either this year.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

If you'd like an icon, you're more than welcome to take any of these. I don't know how well they'll turn out in 100x100 px, though.

You don't think of Texas as having ice storms, or snow, or very cold weather at all, really, even though I know from your posts that that's not true. Hm. All four ice storms that I can remember here have come on the tail end of snowstorms. So you end up with a thick layer of slick ice on top of several inches of snow. Makes shoveling easier because you can punch through the ice and scoop it up rather than trying to scrape it off the cement, but it's hell to walk on.

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

wow that is quite something -- thanks for the pics!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hey there! My pleasure. Have you ever had one of these in any of the places you've lived?

[bell]

I understand that ice storm causes all kinds of damage to trees & man-made structures, but I can't help it-- I think they're absolutely gorgeous, and each year I used to hope that I'd get to see it again. Now I'm in a place with green leaves year round, and in many ways I prefer that-- I hate seeing what I call "naked" trees (ie, without leaves)-- but I do miss the ice storms.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I can't help it-- I think they're absolutely gorgeous

Me too -- I forgot to even mention that they're dangerous until someone brought it up.

Gray, bare trees are just depressing. If it's going to be winter, it may as well snow. Or ice.

[purridot.livejournal.com]

I am captivated by the haunting idea that everything looks like it were made of glass. How otherworldly and alien.

(We get lovely snow, but no ice storms -- yesterday all the trees were completely coated with sparkly frost, it was uncannily beautiful. Wish I'd taken a picture!)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I am in turn intrigued by this feathery white hoarfrost you get. Every time I hear the term I think of Hawthorne; he liked "hoar frost" and "hoary" beards etc.

[roga.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of an ice storm before, and wow, those photos are gorgeous. The tubes forming around everything are amazing.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Aren't they? You can snap twigs and leaves right off if you try to break the ice. Branches fall all over the place.

P.S. Have just added two more photos now that the sun's out.

[jdr1184.livejournal.com]

One of the more beautiful forms of destruction. We have them fairly often towards the end of winter. Lovely pictures. I'll have to remember to take pictures next time instead of simply bitching that my car is completely frozen over.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was lucky I didn't need to be anywhere early today. Instead, I got to wait until things started melting, tugged the car door open, turned on the heat, and then broke up and pushed the ice off in slabs.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

How gorgeous! I've been through earthquakes and typhoons and bushfires and floods, but none of them are quite as pretty ;)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I put those up mainly for you, you ice-storm-less person you. :) I've never been in a major earthquake (only a little rumbler like a big truck going by) or a bushfire or a major flood (though many areas around here are prone to them... as we live on an island), though we've had some moderately damaging hurricanes and thunderstorms.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks, I appreciated them! I've never been in a major anything to date, really, which is just as well. Well, typhoons, I guess, but they aren't that scary as long as you're inside XD

[lima-sierra.livejournal.com]

The ice looks both incredibly beautiful and dangerous. Great photos!

I've never seen an ice storm but did experience freezing fog over Christmas whilst walking up Scafell Pike in the Lake District. The rocks on the path were covered in a thin layer of ice and every strand of grass was thickened by about 5mm of opaque ice, making them look rectangular. Stunning but a right pain to walk on!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I've read that the Scafell Pike is a difficult walk to begin with, so doing it in freezing fog must have been a real challenge.

I was curious about the difference between freezing fog and frost, so I went to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freezing_fog). It makes sense that meteorologists would categorize it like this, but I'd never thought about all the different kinds/definitions of fog before! (Also, LOL, random Star Trek photo.) I don't exactly trust Wikipedia, though, and its various articles don't answer my question, so I'm still trying to find an authoritative answer.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

Off-topic, but it's mildly important (to me)! I'm applying for a prompt community for muses and need to write 200+ words from Wilson's POV about his worst fear. What do you think I ought to write about? (I'm asking a handful of people in particular for their opinion on this. You're special! :D)

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

Hm... Maybe a more general variation on that. A fear of becoming obsolete? Of not being helpful or useful to anyone?