Thursday, January 19, 2017

Snow pix

We've had several days of sub-zero weather which, thankfully, is easing. Here are some snow pictures from the last week or so:

Don stuck some icicles in a snowbank and called it Icehenge.


Icicles have been something of a mainstay for the past week.


It's been very pretty. Cold, but pretty. Clear days equal really cold nights.


The sun backlighting some snowdrifts.


On some mornings we had hoarfrost. This website defines it as follows: "First, to produce any frost, you need water vapor (gaseous form of water) in the air over cold ground with a surface dew point at least as cold as 32 degrees. When these water vapor molecules contact a subfreezing surface, such as a blade of grass, they jump directly from the gas state to solid state, a process known as 'deposition,' leading to a coating of tiny ice crystals."

Whatever the cause, hoarfrost is spectacularly beautiful. It's like every surface is coated with diamonds. It has to be seen to be believed. Photos can't do it justice.

Early dawn:








Full daylight:




For obvious reasons, I call these Days of Diamonds.



Even the snow itself forms hoarfrost ice crystals:


Here's some hay in the barn:


Sunset:



Alpenglow on the distant peaks:





Yep, if we have to have bitterly cold temperatures, at least the scenery is gorgeous.

12 comments:

  1. Absolutely beautiful....Not the cold, but the pictures....God's beauty.
    Thank you for sharing the beauty in your corner of the world...
    Love from NC

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  2. Beautiful pics.
    Enjoyed all of them.
    Thanks.
    andy

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  3. Your pictures are beautiful! it has been an up and down winter here in maine. we have had some cold, but not too much, and not enough snow. it seems it snows a bit and then warms up and rains. no sense complaining, we take what we get!

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  4. Great stuff. Looking forward to more.

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  5. We had hoarfrost down here in Magic Valley too. I couldn't stop taking pictures. Never saw that back in AZ. Love, love, loving Idaho. Thinking about doing Spring Break up in McCall this March. Might have to look you up if that's near your neck of the woods!
    OJD

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  6. I look forward to your photos! They are always so beautiful. I use them often for my desktop photo. Thanks! The only snow we get here in Central Texas! I'm satisfied with yours.

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  7. I described that sparkly snow on those cold days as looking like crushed diamonds.

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  8. Have you ever considered making a calendar of your farm photos to sell to your readers? I think there'd be people who'd be happy to have the lovely pictures and support you guys in this way. Just a thought...

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  9. Wow... Beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing.
    Montana Guy

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  10. As Southerners we had never experienced hoarfrost until just before Christmas one year we were traveling to Michigan. Just outside Terra Haute, Indiana, we drove through several miles of bushes and trees that were covered with hoarfrost. We commented to each other that it looked like fairyland. Or at least our idea of it.

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  11. I'm sure you must be getting pretty tired of it by now, but that is absolutely gorgeous! Easy for me to say from the Ft. Worth area, where we got down to 36 the other night for about an hour.

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