Ice Flowers

Often you can find articles (for example, [3]) about the well – known phenomenon of "Angel Hair", which is illustrated by photos of another relatively rare phenomenon - "Ice Flowers".

Perhaps it is thanks to such articles that there are many eyewitnesses who take these thinnest ice threads for something abnormal.

The most common name of this phenomenon is " Frost flowers "(Frost flower), sometimes it is called "Snow Flowers", on domestic sites there is a name "Snow Hair".

Most often, this phenomenon can be observed in the morning or in shaded areas in early autumn or early winter, which is due to the principle of the appearance of such "flowers". Their formation is possible only under certain weather conditions. The bacterium Pseudomonas syringae (which causes brown mucus, frostbite, fruit damage and leaf spotting in plants) increases the freezing point of water inside plants, and when water leaves the plant and meets cold air, such icy hairs occur. The soil should not be too cold yet, so that the roots of the plant are warm. In this case, it consumes enough moisture from the soil, and the juice continues to circulate in large quantities in the trunk, which is in cold air. According to the laws of physics, the juices of the plant, just like any liquid, expand when frozen, causing the trunk to burst, forming long, narrow cracks. The juices are extruded (ejected) through these slits and freeze in the form of thin filaments upon contact with air. The more water passes through the cracks, the further the "petal" will grow from the trunk.

This can happen not only with a small plant, but also with tree branches.

There were also cases of" squeezing out "accumulated moisture from the pores of" non-living " wood, for example, boards prepared for the construction of a fence.

Video "flowers" made of ice from the forrestmims channel

These "frosty flowers" are very delicate. They break and melt when touched or exposed to sunlight.

Thus, the phenomenon described above, often taken for the phenomenon of "angel hair" due to similar appearance and behavior when touched, is not abnormal.

A similar phenomenon occurs in the soil and is called "Needle ice."