The distinction between hoarfrost and rime ice coating Calgary

When winter rolls round, frost-covered bushes in Calgary grow to be one of many season’s most lovely sights, and whereas many assume that it’s hoarfrost, it may well really be one other climate phenomenon referred to as rime ice.

Daily Hive spoke to Christy Climenhaga, a scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), to dive into what the distinction between hoarfrost and rime ice really is. 

Climenhaga says a giant distinction between the 2 is how they give the impression of being. Hoar frost tends to look mild whereas rime ice seems to look heavier. 

e X p o s e/Shutterstock

“When you’re looking at rime ice, it’s a lot heavier. It’s not quite that feathery, light appearance that you see with hoar frost.” Climenhaga defined.

She additionally talked about traits of the 2, noting that hoar frost can typically be blown off of surfaces like tree branches, whereas rime ice is way thicker and may be both tender or very arduous relying on the wind when it’s shaped.

Climenhaga additionally defined how they’re shaped. “So for those who’re taking a look at a chilly, clear winter night time within the prairies, and also you get up to that ice, and it’s been very clear, that’s while you’re taking a look at hoarfrost. 

Rime ice, then again, typically varieties on foggy nights on account of water droplets freezing onto surfaces. “It’s often very cold, super cool droplets below zero, but stays liquid in the air, and then freezes onto very cold surfaces, creating that kind of milky, icy conditions.”

David J. Mitchell/Shutterstock

So, for those who’ve observed the frost on Calgary’s bushes lately, it’s doubtless you’ve really been taking a look at rime ice, reasonably than the hoarfrost many assume it to be.

“If you’ve got a lot of fog day after day, you can get very thick rime ice, and that’s kind of what we’re seeing in the Calgary area,” Climenhaga says.

Climenhaga additionally spoke in regards to the variations between the consequences of hoarfrost and rime ice and the way rime ice can doubtlessly trigger extra points. Due to its weight and thickness, rime ice may cause points with energy strains if it freezes onto them, in addition to have an effect on bushes and freeze onto plane.

“It can build up and be really, really heavy, whereas hoarfrost is so light it can get blown away very easily.”