A week in the Freezer

It all started on Thanksgiving night. The temperatures dropped and the air became as still as the dead. Slowly, a fog began to build that filled the Klamath Basin and began to collect on everything vertical.

By yesterday, the trees were completely frozen and the plants all had long shards of ice that looked more like icy thorns. I took a bunch of photos and was thinking things could not get prettier.

That was until today. The icy fog built back in overnight, and a few light winds shook the ice from the branches, coating the landscape in a thin layer of powdery snow. When I walked this morning, the basin had a thick layer of fog that had turned the chain link fences opaque and gave the trees a fresh coating of crusty luster.

This is the first time I think I have seen this weather phenomenon. Back in Connecticut's hills, just before I left, we did have a time when a massive high pressure system that stagnated the air. The smoke from the fireplaces got stuck down low making it a lung cancer haven. But by and large we never had a freezing event that resulted in hoar frost.

Hoar Frost is defined as a type of frost that forms when water vapor in the air freezes on solid surfaces that are below freezing. It's characterized by its feathery appearance, which resembles white hair or a beard. The word "hoar" comes from Old English. It feels almost like you're stuck in a giant freezer, no air movement and frigid temperatures.  

We are quite lucky to have such a massive run of it here in the Klamath Basin, by the very nature of the area. In winter, the microclimate traps air down here between the mountain ranges. Since it's freezing and super dry, and we have a giant lake evaporating and no wind to blow the humidity out, it forms fog.

That fog freezes on contact with pretty much everything and forms big feathery ice crystals. And when its all done, we have a giant coating of Hoar Frost on everything.

The weird part is we're now in day three of it. I have heard it can last a day or two, but they say it's expected to last until Wednesday.

While old timers around here may know this condition well, the newbies like me can help but be a little awe struck and take all the photos I can. The dogs had a blast running in the ice this morning. My whiskers even froze up.