The following post may be rather long, so be forewarned. It shows the icicles on the soffit over my window during the course of several days, in varying lights and stages of formation. It begins on the day following my post (below), “A follow-up to “Looking through my files …”
… and I was right; it IS gone … well, for all intents and purposes:
But conditions were such that I got some very pretty frost flowers on my bedroom window. I shot a couple of frames:
But later in the day, the sun was full up, and evidently the roof was receiving enough heat to get the snow to melt, but it was still plenty cold, so it began to build a new, big icicle even as the meltwater was running off the roof … you can even see the falling drops:
By that night, it was pretty big, and the residual heat from the sun was gone. It was solidly frozen, and I got a shot of it illuminated by the big sodium-vapor floodlight across the court:
The next morning was grey and cloudy, so there was no sunlight, but it shows really well against the leaden sky:
It never really changed, all day … no sun makes a dull sort of picture, but the next day dawned about the same. I decided to show the building across the court, just to give a certain amount of perspective:
The day progressed, and the skies had a bit more interest than the day before. Who knows? Maybe it will clear.
Just before dusk, I shot another:
Sure enough, the next day showed definite signs of clearing. This is before the sun was fully up:
Here we go! The sunlight is beginning its creep down the length of the icicle. It’s a steady progression:
Fully illuminated, it almost glows with the sunlight.
It might be a good time, now to look at this thing a little more closely:
It’s interesting to see how this ice formation bears the same marks of its formation and growth as do the dripstone columns in limestone cavern complexes, which isn’t really strange, because they form in the same way. Only the time scale is different.
Well, the day was slated to be a warm one, and I was out of the building for a few hours, attending to errands and such, It was very pleasant, but when I got back, this is what I found:
Sigh!
Well, at least it’s getting warmer …
Cheers, all!
evawiren
March 9, 2014 at 8:55 am
Wonderful Photos all of them and it great to see the changes.
derwandersmann
March 9, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Thank you, Eva. They were fun to shoot.
Words
March 9, 2014 at 10:51 am
That’s great. I love the frost flowers, and the sequence of light changing is fab. We’ve had no ice at all this winter that I recall… just rain. It looks beautiful where you are.
derwandersmann
March 9, 2014 at 4:06 pm
Well, this winter has been one for the books … if I recall, we’ve had 29 days below freezing, and the Lakes have frozen to over 91%, causing quite a die-off among the diving and dabbling ducks, because the only open water is too deep for them. I like the cold, but this is ridiculous! And meanwhile, the Iditarod was slowed considerably by mud and warm temperatures.
Thank you, Republicans! I’m sure we’ll appreciate those jobs you “saved” when there’s no place left to live.
Darko
March 11, 2014 at 12:57 pm
This winter seemed like it will never end, especially on the east of the continent. But it is time now….
derwandersmann
March 11, 2014 at 2:44 pm
Thanks, Dare … some snow due today, but it was 50°+ yesterday. We may be through the worst of it.
d4rkn1ght
March 11, 2014 at 1:22 pm
Fascinating chronological life of icicles! 😎
derwandersmann
March 11, 2014 at 2:45 pm
Thanks … they were fun to shoot. I never knew from day to day what I was going to find.
saktimari
April 8, 2014 at 11:09 pm
Dużo czasu poświęciłeś robiąc zdjęcia soplom lodu…..bardzo dobre zdjęcia, ciekawe….Interesting pictures….. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
The winter was tough?…
saktimari
April 8, 2014 at 11:10 pm
Stars snow …. beautiful … !!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
derwandersmann
April 9, 2014 at 1:59 am
Dziękuję, Mari.
derwandersmann
April 9, 2014 at 2:01 am
Very tough. I haven’t seen such a winter for many years.
saktimari
April 10, 2014 at 5:14 pm
In Poland, the winter was mild …There were strong winter … and cold ……happy day.. 🙂 🙂
Harry...the Man!
May 11, 2014 at 8:12 pm
Following my recent absence from social media, I can look at these through post Winter eyes. This blog post is a keeper, so to speak. One to keep or cherish forever. Still magical to look through even at the tail end of Spring. :up:
derwandersmann
May 11, 2014 at 9:50 pm
“Tail end”? Ours is just beginning. Cold up until a few days ago. Actually, we sorta skipped Spring … a quick transition from Winter to Summer … it was 80°F yesterday.
Harry...the Man!
May 11, 2014 at 10:20 pm
Yes, it’s still not hot weather – but, the sun’s out more.