As the temperatures dropped yesterday, we entered the “snow zone”, with possible snow flurries in the forecast. While it doesn’t look like the snow came, freezing rain did, and it created some works of art that I had the opportunity to capture during morning chores.
When freezing rain makes an appearance here, it has this “encasing” effect, where it coats anything exposed in a sheet of ice. This can actually make the morning chores more exciting because pop doors, tractor lids, and carabiners can be frozen shut, thanks to the sleet. We were lucky today, though, because the sleet and freezing temperatures didn’t last long enough to cause more than a minor inconvenience.
Fences, in particular, make great freezing rain foils. The jagged, crystalline quality of the icicles contrast nicely with the slick smoothness of the encrusted sleet.
One more image, from an elderberry bush (one of several near the waterfowl coop): these prismatic icicles caught my eye and distracted me, briefly, from the task at hand. Here today, likely gone tomorrow – a reminder to appreciate the ephemeral beauty of nature before it disappears.
