Ice Would Be Nice!

There's a lovely stream that tumbles down the mountain that rises along the west side of Moreau Lake. Because of recent rains, there's water in that creek this week, and soon, the temperature will be falling well below freezing. Such were the same conditions eight years ago when I captured in photographs some of the dramatic results of water splashing into subfreezing air. Incredible crystalline beauty!  It sure would be great to see such beautiful ice formations again.  Maybe we will.

Meanwhile, here are some of the photos I took of that gorgeous ice eight years ago.  

When flowing water meets bitter cold, fantastically beautiful ice formations can occur.  Some of these formations are glassy and globular:

Others are opaque and frosty white:

The splashing drops from the tumbling stream create curtains of icicles hanging from limbs that have
fallen across the streambed.

I have yet to understand how these particular "isobar" ice formations occur.  They form a plate suspended above the now mostly depleted stream, and these plates are so thin and fragile I could almost  imagine that they were formed from freezing vapor instead of liquid water. 

Here's one more fantastical ice formation that just amazed me:  clusters of frozen bubbles encased in clear crystalline ice. There must have been a thin layer of transparent ice that formed when the stream was fuller, but as the water level fell and became more rollicking, foaming bubbles splashed up from the rushing water below and then were held intact by that thin ice layer above. I nearly wept from the beauty this icy activity created. 

Here's one more photo of ice gorgeousness I witnessed more recently at another location, this one a creek that flows through the Orra Phelps Nature Preserve in nearby Wilton:  dangling trumpets of ice that formed when water splashed up on the twigs of a branch that fell over the rushing water. I was dazzled by how the light danced around the trumpets as the water played around them.

This time, I laughed out loud for joy, overcome with delight that I could witness such winter beauty.

Photo by Dana Stimpson

Here's hoping our current winter offers us similar reasons to feel such delight!