On the second of March we had a weather phenomenon called a "silver thaw." It has nothing to do with thawing, so don't ask me about the name. I'm sure it happens in other places, but I've only seen it here, in the gorge. The rain hits, and it comes down as rain but the ground is cold and every single surface gets covered with ice. The roads are a sheath of ice. Every blade of grass is outlined in ice like a crystal. It's hell to drive in, but it is gorgeous.
The rail on the deck (this is what the roads were like):
The plants looked like this:
And the view from the deck was:
Twenty-four hours later it was 51 degrees fahrenheit and I was out in my shirt sleeves, digging in the garden. The view from the deck:
5 comments:
We call it freezing rain. Sunrise (or sunset) through the trees gleaming with ice sheaths is certainly beautiful...
We call it an ice storm in the north east.
I experienced an ice storm in Philly, and it was one of the most beautiful things I have seen. The only way you could get around is by "skating" on the ice.
I remember once as a kid in Yakima seeing this in the morning. It was early spring and it was really cool how the ice had formed around the tree branches like that. Within a couple of hours all melted.
I also remember the ice storm in Maine where we were without power for two weeks, not as enjoyable.
"The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." -- Robert Louis Stevenson.
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