Hoar Frost

Walking my son out to his car early one morning I noticed a different type of frost on it: tall , upright crystals. I don't recall seeing frost like that before, so I just had to snap a few photos.

After he pulled away, I noticed weird looking chunks of white in the middle of a puddle in the yard. I tried to get a few photos of it too despite it being well below freezing, soooooo cold and windy, HUGE change from the day before, BRRRRR. Have you ever seen frost like this ?

Looking down at the puddle

Closer to the ground, same puddle

Cropped in so you can 

really see the ice crystal formations.

I submitted this photograph to our local newspaper

with a description of  Hoar Frost to be considered

for the photo of the week.

It was not chosen as The Photo Of The Week,

but it was printed in black and white as an "honorable mention".

I also noticed some ice crystals, almost needle looking as if it were a cactus, growing off of a few pieces of plant material near the puddle. You'll notice that the ground looks dry here yet I mentioned it had rained the day before. It looks this way because the ground was still so dry from the drought, the water was absorbed quickly (plus the sunshine and breeze dried that topmost layer out).

Lastly there was this thick frosty ice crystal formation

on this single piece of plant material.

I've never seen anything like it -

or like any of the other photos of frost I shared for that matter.

I looked online to try to see what it may be called. I believe it to be a type of Hoar Frost.
Wikipedia defines Hoar Frost as "The name hoar comes from an Old English adjective for showing signs of old age, and is used in this context in reference to the frost which makes trees and bushes look like white hair."

I think it may have been caused by the crazy weather we had. The previous day was near 60 degrees, rainy, springlike. The temperatures fell drastically over night with strong winds making the wind chill near zero. I assume the frost formed just above the puddle, the only place in the yard with frost like this, because of the water and that it had been so warm the day before, then the colder air and wind overnight created these huge crystals as the water tried to evaporate perhaps ?


I wish I had gotten better photos, the ground was so soggy I didn't walk close to the puddle, instead zooming in with the camera, causing the photos to be grainy. Plus it wasn't sunny. I should have gone back out a little bit later, bundled up better to try to get a few photos if the sun hit it and made it sparkle..............
I didn't keep an eye on the situation and missed my window of opportunity. At least I have these few photos to remember this strange frost.