50+ Lifestyles

PUBLISHER’S CORNER

By Eloise Graham

Look! Up at the Tree…
… It’s JackFrost!
… It’s Hoarfrost!
… It’s Witches’ Breath!
No. It’s Rime Ice!

I was aware of the word “rime” from doing endless
crosswords. I knew it had something to do with really cold air and ice crystals. But it wasn’t until the first week of January 2021 that I learned the true meaning of rime ice and how it is formed. The rime ice and our weather certainly created some beautiful wintery scenes.

Technically, rime ice occurs when fog and cold moist air swirl around leaving frozen droplets on branches, wires, fences… anything. The fog causing rime ice is quite beautiful to watch. Very ethereal. It looks a lot like plumes of dry ice fog rising and falling in waves. It is when this fog floats through an area, leaving its artistic design on all it touches, that rime ice is formed.

Hoarfrost leaves the same sight on bushes, fences, tree twigs and other items. However, it is formed on cold, calm clear nights. The moisture in the air makes ice crystals to attach to the aforesaid items. That, too, is a thing of frozen beauty. The ice crystals give some look to the grass, trees bushes and such.

Witches’ Breath and Jack Frost are names used in lore talking about the icy designs of natural weather phenomena. You have to admit that Witches’ Breath sounds much more poetic than rime ice. And wouldn’t you rather have Jack Frost tap, tap, tapping at your window pane than hoarfrost leaving frozen ice designs there?

Whatever name we give the ice and frost, we have to admit that we had some days of frozen beauty to start off our New Year.