Hoarfrost in the morning
December 17th, 2005 by Bill
A day or two ago I woke to a foggy, icy morning. Day dawns darkly (forgive the alliteration) and, as a result, grimly in these parts.
But eventually the sun drags its ass up the sky and peers over the building tops and light passes over us and we see what day has brought us.
The other day, it was hoarfrost. I love the look of it. It’s absolutely breathtaking in Edmonton’s River Valley (sorry, no pictures). But …
Yes, there is a downside. Hoarfrost usually means damn cold. As was the case here. The night before it was foggy. But not foggy like, say, Victorian London. Here, winter fog generally means ice crystals. A chilly mist sort of settles over everything, and it’s quite enchanting in an ethereal kind of way.
But it tends to mean temperatures dropping, as they did in this case. And dropping considerably.
It’s really quite astonishing how gorgeous calamity can be. And yes, as far as I’m concerned, cold is a calamity.
Oddly, next week temperatures go back up and, if the weather guys are correct in this, what snow and ice we have will be gone and Christmas will not be white but, rather, variations on khaki and dun.
