Other than a few days of really cold temperatures, things have been mild around here this winter, with more rain than snow. You’d better have your galoshes on for a tromp across open ground. Saturday, temperatures dropped down to about 20 degrees Fahrenheit and crisped things right up for a while. Perfect for a nice walk.
As I crunched across fields and through woods, I stumbled upon a large area of fantastic ice crystals on a patch of ground recently turned over by earth moving equipment. Knowing they wouldn’t be there long, I snapped a few photos with my phone.
It reminded me of an underwater scene with the 3″ strands of ice seeming to rise out of the depths and flow in gentle currents.
It’s gone now, and I have no idea if it was hoarfrost or some other phenomenon, but it stopped me in my tracks.
David Fisher, Carving Explorations 
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Hey, Dave. I’m bot sure the pic will show up here, but I had a similar frost-related creation show up recently. Thanks for sharing.
Joe
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Photos don’t show up in the comments, Joe. Can you send it to me in an email? Thanks.
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One way or another, Mother Nature stops us in our tracks every time our paths coincide. It has been like that my entire life. Explains everything words cannot.
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Dave, that ice has a name, it’s called needle ice. There was plenty of it on my hike this past weekend on the slightly frozen trails.
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David. Nice photos of “Needle Ice Crystals”. Thanks for sharing.
Mother Nature always provides these daily wonders for us to enjoy.
“Needle ice” is a needle-shaped column of ice formed by groundwater. Needle ice forms when the temperature of the soil is above 0 °C and the surface temperature of the air is below 0 °C.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Michael
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Thanks, Michael. Sounds like the conditions were right for it.
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