This was my first time running across “frost flowers”and I think they are just so lovely and magical.
The Farmer’s Almanac says: One of nature’s fascinating formations is that of the fragile and elusive frost flower. Frost flowers are not really flowers, so you can’t plant them, nor can you necessarily plan on when you’ll see them “bloom” because weather conditions have to be just right. What a first glance may look like white feathers resting between blades of grass are actually ice crystals that have formed during the cold of night.
How Frost Flowers Form
Frost flowers form outside of plant stems right around the time of the first frost, when the air is cold but the ground is still moist. As the temperature in the air drops, water in the plant’s stems begins to freeze and causes microscopic cracks. As water vapor exits these cracks, it freezes and creates delicate petals of ice. Because water is continually being drawn up into the plant stem from the unfrozen ground, it is constantly being pushed out of the cracks and freezing, causing the curling ribbons or “petals” of the flower to form. This is a slow process of water vapor exiting and freezing during the night.
Here are a few of the images from the morning and now that I know they exist I'll be on the lookout for them from now on. Another reason for me to coax myself out of bed a little earlier in the mornings.
