In my part of Canada there have been exactly six days where the
average temperature was above the freezing mark since Christmas Eve. The snow continues to accumulate; ice has
formed in different ways and in different places.
 |
| Both photos taken on December 22nd by my husband, after the ice storm |
I was thinking that
during this long winter we could pay a bit more attention to some intricacies
of snow and ice. Some of us may
remember learning the hydrological (water) cycle and the unique way snow/frost
is formed as opposed to ice. Ice makes
the simple transition from liquid to solid through cold temperatures, whereas
snow and frost skip a step. They are
formed by sublimation, when water vapour responds to freezing temperatures.
While it has
become legendary that the Inuit language of Inuktitut has numerous words for
snow and ice due to the fact that its speakers have the longest winters on the
planet, English can also boast over 50 specific words related to ice and snow.[1] Many of these words come from specialized
fields, such as alpine skiing and meteorology. Another specialized field that deals with ice is electrical
engineering. Until recently I had never
heard of additional words for ice, namely soft and hard rime and glaze
ice. A researcher at the University of
Quebec at Chicoutimi, whose thesis paper I had the privilege of editing, used
these terms because various types of ice coatings on electrical equipment can
have greater damaging effects than others.
Another fascinating adjective I learned from this study was “icephobic,”
that which inhibits the formation of ice.
Today I took a
photo of the snow bank beside my driveway, which is anything but
icephobic. The grainy snow becomes liquid and
then freezes as an icicle along the side. 
Another icicle (right) on the back fender of my van defies gravity.
[1]
http://poetry-contingency.uwaterloo.ca/fifty-five-english-words-for-snow/
shares a list of words.
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