The ice pictures form in rather an exclusive fashion, and two types never intrude upon each other’s territory, although we often find both types upon one pane of glass, as shown in the photographed illustration Nos. [140 a] and [140 b].
The ice films always begin to develop upon the colder portions of the glass first. Feathery plume-like designs form first upon shaded portions, and slowly follow the fading sunlight as it passes from one pane to another, until the entire window is often covered with these transparent ice pictures. During zero weather the feathery types thicken to an astonishing degree, more so than the opposite type, or arborescent ice film.
Another type of ice formation, and an interesting one, which in the photograph resembles somewhat a vegetable root or growth, is a form of ice which develops and grows upon and under peaty soil. These singular little ice columns rise as by magic, and form a miniature forest of tiny ice columns; frequently raising upon their tops the soil, stones, etc., to a height of many inches.
126. Local storm type
127. Cold high altitude
Nos. [145], [146] and [147], show photographed examples of this type of columnar ice, [No. 147] being a largely magnified section of one of these tiny columns in detail. Icicles are another interesting phenomenon belonging to ice study. They are evidently produced by the thawing of snow, and we frequently discover “freak” icicles hanging pendent from the house eaves during a thaw. They are, in a way, one of the many mysteries pertaining, and to be classed as ice crystallisations, and are closely related to the wonderful stalactite formations found in deep caves.
Beautiful beyond powers of description are the magical, fairy-like scenes which follow the passing of a great ice-storm. If you are out of doors just after such a storm, when the first rays of the sun begin to shine forth, lighting and touching every ice-sheathed twig with gold, and before the ice has begun to melt and fall from the trees, you can well imagine that you are catching a fleeting glimpse of fairyland! Trees that before the storm waved their leaf-stripped branches, bare and unlovely, in wailing symphony, tuned by the bleak wintry blast, have suddenly been clothed anew and made beautiful for a brief time, by their silvery coating of ice. Each tiny twig glitters and scintillates and crackles beneath the pale wintry sunshine; beautiful beyond words to picture.
These ice-storms occur more frequently in January, and are usually followed by a warm wave. They are seen in all their beauty in the New England States. Frequently after such an ice-storm there is a noticeable swelling and expansion of twigs and buds; the first suggestion of verdure and an early spring.