Mornings with rime

Landscape at Hinnomäe. Otepää uplands

 

 

On slightly frosty and a little windy mornings in late autumn a beautiful view of nature opens, even a little mystical. At a few minus degrees a grainy rime settles on tree branches and plants. The structure of this rime is amorphous or non-crystalline, its surface is knobbly. This happens at the freezing of cooled mist drops: the mist drops freeze very rapidly and do not have the time to lose their shape. A snow-like precipitate is created that consists of tiny frozen grains that cannot be distinguished from each other by a naked eye.

 

When the air turns warmer in the morning a glaze frost dangerous for people on the move may form.

 

Frost on water plantain