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

[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.