Category Archives: weather

  It may be spring in the valleys, but there is still snow in the mountains—and interesting snow at that.  Stu Heard sent me pictures from a foray that he and Holley Rubinsky made up Mt. Buchanan a week ago. … Continue reading →

  Yesterday, there was a halo around the Sun; this morning, the rain (or snow) began. These events were related. The earliest sign of an approaching mid-latitude storm is often a canopy of cirrus—a veil of ice crystals. While simple … Continue reading →

  Uncinus is Latin for hooked and when applied to cirrus—itself Latin for a lock of hair—it nicely characterizes the cloud, below: formally, it is cirrus uncinus. A familiar name for these clouds is fallstreaks, for they are streaks of ice … Continue reading →

  I last saw frost flowers bloom along the shore of Kootenay Lake five years ago. Since then, watching for these delights has been rather like searching for a rarely blooming wild orchid. Frost flowers bloom under a rather narrow … Continue reading →

  I don’t understand why I don’t see (cloud) billows as often around here as I have seen them elsewhere. These billows are formed in a thin atmospheric layer where the temperature and wind change markedly with height. The airflow … Continue reading →

  Frazil ice is a collection of loose, randomly oriented flakes of ice in water. Frazil resembles slush and has the appearance of being slightly oily when seen on the surface of water.  In a recent posting, it was noted that … Continue reading →

  Ice is endlessly fascinating; its various forms are a frequent topic for this blog in the winter. As the air temperature now ranges between -15C and -10C, ice is making its appearance along the shoreline. It forms where the … Continue reading →

  An ancient mariner’s term for a breath of air that lightly brushes the water is a cat’s paw. The name implies the gentleness of the touch; it is a zephyr, a gentle gust of wind.  This would probably be … Continue reading →

  I was struck by the extensive and beautiful hoar frost covering a field of soft snow. Yet, the location of the frost was oddly selective: extensive on the snow, absent on adjacent ice and wood. Why might this be? … Continue reading →