Heavy Frost

Heavy frost the other morning (and far too much rain recently). I watch the weather network and radar constantly while I hope for sunny days so I can do a little more in the garden before snow flies. And sunny days are often preceded by morning frost after a clear night.


Frost patterns fascinate me, and they are so much more obvious on some things than others. On the mown lawn they etch the grass and clover in white, but in the long grass of the meadow they hardly show up. Out in the middle of the lawn the frost may be quite heavy, but under the trees of the fencerow there is no frost at all - all a function of air flow under the clear night sky. And in the morning the white landscape melts and vanishes in a matter of an hour or two as the sun rises; you can watch the melt cross the lawn as different areas emerge from shade into the sun. Frost is another of nature's very ephemeral changes.


Even the fallen leaves and piles of weeds from the garden end up tinged in white.