Clear ice

Clear ice with icicles on a bush
Look up clear ice in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Clear ice refers to a solid precipitation which forms when air temperature is between 0 °C (32 °F) and -3 °C (27 °F) and there are supercooled, relatively large drops of water (from freezing fog). A rapid accretion and a slow dissipation of latent heat of fusion favor the formation of a transparent ice coating, without air or other impurities.

A similar phenomenon occurs when freezing rain or drizzle hit a surface and is called glaze.

Clear ice, when formed on the ground, is often called black ice, and can be extremely hazardous.

Clear ice is denser and more homogeneous than hard rime; like rime, however, clear ice accumulates on branches and overhead lines, where it is particularly dangerous due to its relative high density.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clear ice.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/13/2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.