Winter wonderland

February 2, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

InFocus: Winter wonderland

Winter: Cold as ice and blowing hard enough to hope it was already June.

But in the still of the night, with no wind, a clear sky, and when the relative humidity is more than 100 percent or supersaturated air meets the below-freezing air, ice crystals are deposited on vegetation or any object nearby.

This deposit of ice crystals is known as hoarfrost, and recently covered local trees and vegetation to make it a beautiful winter wonderland of the interlocking ice crystals.

The early morning sun highlights the crystals and for a few short hours the beautiful wintry scenes can be found just about everywhere, and the beauty makes us forget the bitter cold of winter.

HOARFROST

Dancing and sparkling,

Grasping the sun, the hoarfrost

Glimmers like diamonds.

— Lisa Denney