Magical Winter Morning, Just Don’t Call it “Hoar Frost”

The view outside your window Monday morning was nothing short of magical. Frost-coated plants and trees dominated the landscape across the Northwest suburbs including at the Eastman Nature Center in Maple Grove, thanks to special overnight weather.

Experts have a specific name for this kind of weather occurrence. “Technically it’s not hoar frost,” said Brandon Baker, a naturalist with the Three Rivers Park District. “Technically it’s a soft rime. The reason it’s a soft rime is because we had a freezing fog last night.” By contrast, hoar frost only happens when conditions are clear and calm.

Don’t Call it Hoar Frost; It’s “Rime”

Whether frost or soft rime, the result was spectacular. The soft rime was created by fog mixed with cold temperatures that dipped into the single digits. The result was a winter wonderland scene in the Twin Cities.

“It was so pretty,” said Jen Summe of Corcoran. “I took lots of pictures. My husband’s out of town right now so I took a bunch of pictures to send to him.”

“Oh it’s beautiful,” Baker said. “You can see all the little ice crystals that have formed and it’s really amazing. It’s a really cool weather phenomena we can see at our level. Normally this stuff’s happening way up in the atmosphere.”

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Maple Grove