Rare 'hair ice' spotted in Scotland
- Published
Weather Watcher 'hrhpod' spotted this unusual ice in East Renfrewshire.
At first glance, you might think that Santa's lost his beard somewhere on the forest floor.
This white, hair-like phenomenon is actually hundreds of delicate strands of ice - and is quite unusual.
Also known as ice wool, frost flowers or frost beard, hair ice is a type of frost that only forms under specific conditions.
The ice is caused by a fungus on rotting wood.
The hair-like ice crystals are formed on humid winter nights when the temperature is just below zero. However, weather conditions are only part of the recipe. For hair ice to form, it also needs the help of a particular fungus found in moist, rotting wood.
The presence of the fungus Exidiopsis effusa leads to a process known as 'ice segregation', enabling the ice to form very thin hairs with a diameter of about 0.01mm - and to maintain this shape for many hours when the temperatures are close to freezing. Wood without the fungus present will see ice form in crusts instead.
The fine 'hairs' of ice are very delicate and melt easily.
The strands of 'hair' can grow up to 20cm in length, but although they look silky smooth, they are incredibly fragile and will quickly melt if touched or exposed to the winter sun, which is why managing to catch sight of these frost flowers is such a delight.
