Ice Storms

I have now experienced my first, albeit mild, ice storm. We have had several; lots of snow that gradually melted and faded away. However, just after the latest fall, it started to rain. I got a frantic phone call from my daughter asking me to go and use the salt we had in a bucket on the porch to salt the pathway down the side of the house. I saw it was raining and put my coat on and decided (thankfully) to dig out my Akubra before I ventured out. To say it was cold would be to put it mildly. I very quickly realized that although it was raining, the rain was freezing as soon as it hit the ground. Ice was forming in front of my eyes and to make things even worse, the salt in the bucket was frozen as well. I noticed a trowel in the garden and went to pick it up. This turned out to be just a little painful as the handle was covered with a layer of ice. Not just on the top, but entirely enclosed in ice all round.

It took me about 30 minutes to salt the path and outside the front and the two steps leading up from the road. By the time I got back into the house I was wet and extremely cold with ice particles hanging off me.

Next morning I realized why my daughter wanted the path salted. It was clear of ice, but everything was covered with a veneer of clear ice. Plants were strange. The stems and every part of them was encased in ice giving them a strange sheen. I have seen trees covered with snow, but seeing them coated in ice is very different. They look almost silver. You can almost see the ice envelop around every part of the tree. This is something I have never seen before and was (and still am) fascinated by the whole thing.

Fences, overhead power cables, roof tops, all have lots of icicles hanging from them. It is now a week later and the ice is still there. What is incredible is that the plants seem to survive being encased in ice.

I must also admit I am beginning to understand some of the behavior of Americans a little more now. It seems to be a feature over here to have very large parking lots (car parks) with shops on one, two or even three sides, with even restaurants dotted along the fourth side. Today, when visiting one of these areas, I had to go to two shops. Considering myself to be responsible I did what I normally do and parked near one and walked to the other. Halfway across I was really suffering, my cheeks hurt, my hands stung and I was cold, very cold. The shop itself (Walmart) was warm which meant when I came out it it me again. I walked to the second shop, bought what I needed and walked back to the car. I must admit I am now also appreciative of heated seats. My daughters mini van (people mover) has leather seats with the front seats also having heaters. Trust me, when it is this cold, leather seats are extremely cold and not very comfortable, until the heater kicks in that is. I decided to check the temperature and found it was 15 Fahrenheit which equates to almost minus 10 Celsius. Explains why I felt so blooming cold!!!!!!

I decided to get a coffee as Starbucks is close by. When I got there I saw the drive through queue and thought, get out and walk in the freezing cold to the store, or stay in the (now) warm car and get a drive through coffee. Guess which option I took? Yep, drive through. So much warmer although not perhaps the most ecologically friendly way to do it.

I hope all you folks back in Aus are enjoying your warm, Christmas...