Thursday, December 6, 2012

Wonder of the Week: more Ice Art

December often is a month of deadlines, and so it is this year -- two final project reports and a paper are due.  In the absence of time for anything more, here's another collection of photos of Jack Frost’s enchanting artwork.

I “discovered” the beauty of ice up close last year, when frigid arctic air moved in and provided Jack with great conditions for his masterpieces.  We’ve had nothing like that so far this winter.  The first ice on the river I posted about a few weeks ago has melted, and recently we’ve had daytime temperatures in the 40s and 50s (F) -- hardly a Laramie winter.

But it still freezes at night, and if we’re lucky and keep an eye out, we find Jack has been hard at work after all.
Angular patterns on the surface, and little ice mounds/blobs just below.  Field of view is less than 2 inches. 
As always, there is even more beauty to behold by zooming in once the photos are downloaded (click on photos for better views).
We found Jack’s creations in a stock tank during a recent "winter" hike in the Laramie Mountains.

All ice art courtesy Jack Frost.
From Central Park in Winter by Thomas Nast, 1864.

4 comments:

  1. We are assured of a cold winter here - which is something we don't always get. I shall be inspired, come frosts (if we have any to speak of) to follow your lead and go looking for ice-art.

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    1. That would be wonderful, Lucy, I look forward to seeing some ice art ... not that I'm wishing you a frigid winter! :)

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  2. I have some non-digital photos of beautiful ice from a winter in Alaska tucked away somewhere - so many different varieties and shapes all around.

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    1. yeah, it blows me away how much variety there is!

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