In late summer the area between Kluane Lake and Haines Junction, Yukon, commonly produces stacked lenticular clouds. Lenticular clouds, technically known as altocumulus standing lenticularis, are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes, normally aligned at right-angles to the wind direction.
Photo credit: David Cartier
On December 24, 2012, a strange double helix cloud was spotted just outside Moscow, Russia. A series of amateur photographs were submitted to a Russian site called netall.ru. While it is not entirely known what caused such a phenomenon, it is believed it may be a contrail. Contrails, short for “condensation trails” or vapor trails are long thin artificial clouds that sometimes form behind an aircraft.
Snow rollers are a very rare phenomenon where snowballs form naturally by a very strong wind blowing across a flat, snow covered field when the snow is easily compacted (snow temperature near 32°F/0°C)
Blades of grass are encased in ice, after a lawn sprinkler valve froze and broke in Salina, Kansas.
Photo credit: Tom Dorsey / Salina Journal via AP
The setting sun illuminates the sky above the towers of Michaelsberg monastery in Bamberg, Germany, Dec. 29.
Photo credit: David Ebener / AFP - Getty Images
A frost flower is the name given to a condition in which thin layers of ice are extruded from long-stemmed plants in autumn or early winter. The thin layers of ice are often formed into exquisite patterns that curl into “petals” that resemble flowers. The formation of frost flowers is dependent on a freezing weather condition occurring when the ground is not yet frozen. The sap in the stem of the plants will expand, causing long, thin cracks to form along the length of the stem. Water is then drawn through these cracks via capillary action and freezes upon contact with the air. As more water is drawn through the cracks it pushes the thin ice layers further from the stem, causing a thin “petal” to form.
