Hoar Frost

There’s something so special about frosty mornings isn’t there? There are lots of different kinds of frost - ground, air, glaze and rime and (for me) the best one of all -  Hoar Frost.  Hoar is an Old English word for hair or beard and refers to the hairy appearance of this amazing act of nature.

Created by water vapour in the air hitting an already frozen surface, ice crystals form immediately and then grow like a glorious feathery flower, as more water vapour sticks.

On really still nights where the surface temperature stays below freezing, Hoar Frost springs into life, coating tree branches, blades of grass and leaves with its feathery, white fronds, transforming the landscape into a magical winter wonderland.

When the next Hoar Frost forms we’ll be outside before it thaws, using our magnifiers to take a close look at the beautiful miniature world of ice crystals, scraping some crystals into our hands to watch their delicate structure melt away and running on crunchy grass to keep warm in that frozen landscape, feeling in our core the glory of winter.