Rare frost flowers turn icy landscapes into beautiful gardens
Frost flowers turn wintry landscapes into icy gardens under the right conditions
Temperatures are dropping once again, which means lakes and other bodies of water are starting to freeze.
If there is no snow around when the thermometer dips below zero, you may be treated to a rare and beautiful sight!
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Frost flowers can form on thin layers of ice on cold, calm days with no winds. The temperature at the ice surface must be warmer than the air temperature, which is often helped through surface warming from exposure to sunlight. The stark difference in surface and air temperatures can cause the ice to transform into water vapour—a process known as sublimation.
The water vapour will rise until it reaches the colder air above, where the vapour will then refreeze into a crystalline structure.
A closeup of a frost flower on ice in Témiscouata, Que., on Dec. 30, 2024 (Bob Roberts/Facebook)
It only takes a small amount of water vapour for this to occur, and the results are beautiful clumps of thin ice, often resembling flowers in bloom.
While frost flowers can occur anywhere temperatures reach below freezing, they’re more common in arid environments, where conditions are more favourable for sublimation to occur.
Frost flowers aren’t limited to ice on water, either! They can also be found on plants and any surface that has a layer of ice on it.
Have you seen this before? Share your photos with us on social media by using #ShareYourWeather
Thumbnail image credit to Bob Robert/Facebook.
