![Saint-Amant 16 Gelée blanche 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Saint-Amant_16_Gel%C3%A9e_blanche_2008.jpg)
Frost is a thin layer of
ice
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...
on a
solid
Solid is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas, and plasma). The molecules in a solid are closely packed together and contain the least amount of kinetic energy. A solid is characterized by structural ...
surface, which forms from
water vapor
(99.9839 °C)
, -
, Boiling point
,
, -
, specific gas constant
, 461.5 J/( kg·K)
, -
, Heat of vaporization
, 2.27 MJ/kg
, -
, Heat capacity
, 1.864 kJ/(kg·K)
Water vapor, water vapour or aqueous vapor is the gaseous p ...
in an above-
freezing
Freezing is a phase transition where a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. In accordance with the internationally established definition, freezing means the solidification phase change of a liquid ...
atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a
phase change
In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic State of ...
from water vapor (a
gas
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
) to ice (a solid) as the water vapor reaches the
freezing point
The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depend ...
. In
temperate climate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...
s, it most commonly appears on surfaces near the ground as fragile white
crystals
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...
; in cold climates, it occurs in a greater variety of forms.
The propagation of crystal formation occurs by the process of
nucleation.
The
ice crystals
Ice crystals are solid ice exhibiting atomic ordering on various length scales and include hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, dendritic crystals, and diamond dust.
Formation
The hugely symmetric shapes are due to depositional growth, n ...
of frost form as the result of
fractal process development. The depth of
frost crystals varies depending on the amount of time they have been accumulating, and the concentration of the water vapor (
humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity dep ...
). Frost crystals may be invisible (black), clear (
translucent
In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale (one in which the dimensions ...
), or white; if a mass of frost crystals scatters light in all directions, the coating of frost appears white.
Types of frost include crystalline frost (
hoar frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a ga ...
or radiation frost) from
deposition of water vapor from air of low humidity,
white frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a ga ...
in humid conditions,
window frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a ga ...
on glass surfaces,
advection frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a ga ...
from cold wind over cold surfaces,
black frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a ga ...
without visible ice at low temperatures and very low humidity, and
rime
Rime may refer to:
*Rime ice, ice that forms when water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, such as trees
Rime is also an alternative spelling of "rhyme" as a noun:
*Syllable rime, term used in the study of phonology in ling ...
under
supercooled wet conditions.
Plants that have evolved in warmer climates suffer damage when the temperature falls low enough to freeze the water in the
cells that make up the plant
tissue. The tissue damage resulting from this process is known as "frost damage".
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...
s in those regions where frost damage has been known to affect their crops often invest in substantial means to protect their crops from such damage.
Formation
![Nevada-Apartadero-Merida-Venezuela](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Nevada-Apartadero-Merida-Venezuela.jpg)
If a solid surface is chilled below the
dew point
The dew point is the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor, assuming constant air pressure and water content. When cooled below the dew point, moisture capacity is reduced and airborne water vapor will cond ...
of the surrounding humid air, and the surface itself is colder than freezing, ice will form on it. If the water deposits as a liquid that then freezes, it forms a coating that may look glassy, opaque, or crystalline, depending on its type. Depending on context, that process may also be called
atmospheric icing
Atmospheric icing occurs in the atmosphere when water droplets suspended in air freeze on objects they come in contact with. It is not the same as freezing rain, which is caused directly by precipitation. Icing conditions can be particularly dang ...
. The ice it produces differs in some ways from crystalline frost, which consists of spicules of ice that typically project from the solid surface on which they grow.
The main difference between the ice coatings and frost spicules arises because the crystalline spicules grow directly from
desublimation
Deposition is the phase transition in which gas transforms into solid without passing through the liquid phase. Deposition is a thermodynamic process. The reverse of deposition is sublimation and hence sometimes deposition is called desublimat ...
of water vapour from air, and desublimation is not a factor in icing of freezing surfaces. For desublimation to proceed, the surface must be below the
frost point of the air, meaning that it is sufficiently cold for ice to form without passing through the
liquid phase
A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a (nearly) constant volume independent of pressure. As such, it is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, gas, ...
. The air must be humid, but not sufficiently humid to permit the condensation of liquid water, or icing will result instead of desublimation. The size of the crystals depends largely on the temperature, the amount of
water vapor
(99.9839 °C)
, -
, Boiling point
,
, -
, specific gas constant
, 461.5 J/( kg·K)
, -
, Heat of vaporization
, 2.27 MJ/kg
, -
, Heat capacity
, 1.864 kJ/(kg·K)
Water vapor, water vapour or aqueous vapor is the gaseous p ...
available, and how long they have been growing undisturbed.
As a rule, except in conditions where supercooled droplets are present in the air, frost will form only if the deposition surface is colder than the surrounding air. For instance, frost may be observed around cracks in cold wooden sidewalks when humid air escapes from the warmer ground beneath. Other objects on which frost commonly forms are those with low
specific heat
In thermodynamics, the specific heat capacity (symbol ) of a substance is the heat capacity of a sample of the substance divided by the mass of the sample, also sometimes referred to as massic heat capacity. Informally, it is the amount of heat t ...
or high
thermal emissivity
The emissivity of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in emitting energy as thermal radiation. Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation that most commonly includes both visible radiation (light) and infrared radiation, which is n ...
, such as blackened metals, hence the accumulation of frost on the heads of rusty nails.
The apparently erratic occurrence of frost in adjacent localities is due partly to differences of elevation, the lower areas becoming colder on calm nights. Where static air settles above an area of ground in the absence of wind, the
absorptivity and specific heat of the ground strongly influence the temperature that the trapped air attains.
Types
Hoar frost
![LightLTSEM](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/LightLTSEM.jpg)
Hoar frost, also hoarfrost, radiation frost, or pruina, refers to white ice crystals deposited on the ground or loosely attached to exposed objects, such as wires or leaves. They form on cold, clear nights when conditions are such that
heat radiates into outer space faster than it can be replaced from nearby warm objects or brought in by the wind. Under suitable circumstances, objects cool to below the
frost point of the surrounding air, well below the freezing point of water. Such freezing may be promoted by effects such as flood frost or frost pocket. These occur when ground-level radiation cools air until it flows downhill and accumulates in pockets of very cold air in valleys and hollows. Hoar frost may freeze in such low-lying cold air even when the air temperature a few feet above ground is well above freezing.
The word "hoar" comes from an
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
adjective that means "showing signs of old age". In this context, it refers to the frost that makes trees and bushes look like white hair.
Hoar frost may have different names depending on where it forms:
*Air hoar is a deposit of hoar frost on objects above the surface, such as tree branches, plant stems, and wires.
*Surface hoar refers to fern-like ice crystals directly deposited on snow, ice, or already frozen surfaces.
*Crevasse hoar consists of crystals that form in glacial crevasses where water vapour can accumulate under calm weather conditions.
*
Depth hoar
Depth hoar, also called sugar snow or temperature gradient snow (or TG snow), are large snow-crystals occurring at the base of a snowpack that form when uprising water vapor deposits, or desublimates, onto existing snow crystals. Depth hoar cr ...
refers to faceted crystals that have slowly grown large within cavities beneath the surface of banks of dry snow. Depth hoar crystals grow continuously at the expense of neighbouring smaller crystals, so typically are visibly stepped and have faceted hollows.
When surface hoar covers sloping snowbanks, the layer of frost crystals may create an
avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...
risk; when heavy layers of new snow cover the frosty surface, furry crystals standing out from the old snow hold off the falling flakes, forming a layer of voids that prevents the new snow layers from bonding strongly to the old snow beneath. Ideal conditions for hoarfrost to form on snow are cold, clear nights, with very light, cold air currents conveying humidity at the right rate for growth of frost crystals. Wind that is too strong or warm destroys the furry crystals, and thereby may permit a stronger bond between the old and new snow layers. However, if the winds are strong enough and cold enough to lay the crystals flat and dry, carpeting the snow with cold, loose crystals without removing or destroying them or letting them warm up and become sticky, then the frost interface between the snow layers may still present an avalanche danger, because the texture of the frost crystals differs from the snow texture, and the dry crystals will not stick to fresh snow. Such conditions still prevent a strong bond between the snow layers.
In very low temperatures where fluffy surface hoar crystals form without subsequently being covered with snow, strong winds may break them off, forming a dust of ice particles and blowing them over the surface. The ice dust then may form ''
yukimarimo
Yukimarimo are balls of fine frost formed at low temperatures on the Antarctic plateau during weak wind conditions. Yukimarimo were discovered in 1995 at Dome F by the 36th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE-36) at temperatures of –59 ...
'', as has been observed in parts of Antarctica, in a process similar to the formation of
dust bunnies
Dust bunnies (or dustbunnies) are small clumps of dust that form under furniture and in corners that are not cleaned regularly. They are made of hair, lint, flakes of dead skin, spider webs, dust, and sometimes light rubbish and debris and a ...
and similar structures.
![Frosted Flower](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Frosted_Flower.jpg)
Hoar frost and
white frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a ga ...
also occur in man-made environments such as in freezers or industrial
cold-storage facilities. If such cold spaces or the pipes serving them are not well insulated and are exposed to ambient humidity, the moisture will freeze instantly depending on the freezer temperature. The frost may coat pipes thickly, partly insulating them, but such inefficient insulation still is a source of heat loss.
Advection frost
Advection frost (also called wind frost) refers to tiny ice spikes that form when very cold
wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...
is blowing over tree branches, poles, and other surfaces. It looks like rimming on the edges of flowers and leaves, and usually forms against the
direction of the wind. It can occur at any hour, day or night.
Window frost
Window frost (also called fern frost or ice flowers) forms when a glass pane is exposed to very cold air on the outside and warmer, moderately moist air on the inside. If the pane is a bad
insulator (for example, if it is a single-pane window), water vapour condenses on the glass, forming frost patterns. With very low temperatures outside, frost can appear on the bottom of the window even with double-pane energy-efficient windows because the air convection between two panes of glass ensures that the bottom part of the glazing unit is colder than the top part. On unheated motor vehicles, the frost usually forms on the outside surface of the glass first. The glass surface influences the shape of crystals, so imperfections, scratches, or dust can modify the way ice
nucleates. The patterns in window frost form a
fractal with a
fractal dimension
In mathematics, more specifically in fractal geometry, a fractal dimension is a ratio providing a statistical index of complexity comparing how detail in a pattern (strictly speaking, a fractal pattern) changes with the scale at which it is me ...
greater than one, but less than two. This is a consequence of the nucleation process being constrained to unfold in two dimensions, unlike a snowflake, which is shaped by a similar process, but forms in three dimensions and has a fractal dimension greater than two.
If the indoor air is very humid, rather than moderately so, water first
condenses
Condensation is the change of the state of matter from the gas phase into the liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. The word most often refers to the water cycle. It can also be defined as the change in the state of water vapor to ...
in small droplets, and then freezes into
clear ice
Clear ice refers to a solid precipitation which forms when air temperature is between and 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 ...
.
Similar patterns of freezing may occur on other smooth vertical surfaces, but they seldom are as obvious or spectacular as on clear glass.
File:Frost patterns 1.jpg
File:Frost patterns 2.jpg
File:Frost patterns 3.jpg
File:Frost patterns 4.jpg
File:Frost patterns 5.jpg
File:Frost patterns 25.jpg
File:WindowFrostNewmarketOntario1986.jpg
File:Frost on a plastic container in a -30 C freezer.jpg
White frost
White frost is a solid
deposition of ice that forms directly from water vapour contained in air.
White frost forms when relative humidity is above 90% and the temperature below −8 °C (18 °F), and it grows against the wind direction, since air arriving from
windward
Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
has a higher humidity than leeward air, but the wind must not be strong, else it damages the delicate icy structures as they begin to form. White frost resembles a heavy coating of hoar frost with big, interlocking crystals, usually needle-shaped.
Rime
Rime is a type of ice deposition that occurs quickly, often under heavily humid and windy conditions. Technically speaking, it is not a type of frost, since usually
supercooled water drops are involved, in contrast to the formation of hoar frost, in which water vapour desublimates slowly and directly. Ships travelling through Arctic seas may accumulate large quantities of rime on the rigging. Unlike hoar frost, which has a feathery appearance, rime generally has an icy, solid appearance.
Black frost
![Plants affected by Below Freezing Temps](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Plants_affected_by_Below_Freezing_Temps.jpg)
Black frost or ("killing frost") is not strictly speaking frost at all, because it is the condition seen in crops when the humidity is too low for frost to form, but the temperature falls so low that plant tissues freeze and die, becoming blackened, hence the term "black frost". Black frost often is called "killing frost" because white frost tends to be less cold, partly because the
latent heat
Latent heat (also known as latent energy or heat of transformation) is energy released or absorbed, by a body or a thermodynamic system, during a constant-temperature process — usually a first-order phase transition.
Latent heat can be underst ...
of freezing of the water reduces the temperature drop.
Effect on plants
Damage
![Feuilles-avec-glace-leaves-with-ice-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Feuilles-avec-glace-leaves-with-ice-1.jpg)
Many plants can be damaged or killed by freezing temperatures or frost. This varies with the type of plant, the tissue exposed, and how low temperatures get; a "light frost" of damages fewer types of plants than a "hard frost" below .
Plants likely to be damaged even by a light frost include vines—such as beans, grapes, squashes, melons—along with
nightshades such as tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. Plants that may tolerate (or even benefit from) frosts include:
*root vegetables (e.g. beets, carrots, parsnips, onions)
*leafy greens (e.g. lettuces, spinach, chard, cucumber
)
*
cruciferous vegetables
Cruciferous vegetables are vegetables of the family Brassicaceae (also called Cruciferae) with many genera, species, and cultivars being raised for food production such as cauliflower, cabbage, kale, garden cress, bok choy, broccoli, Brusse ...
(e.g. cabbages, cauliflower, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, radishes, kale, collard, mustard, turnips, rutabagas)
Even those plants that tolerate frost may be damaged once temperatures drop even lower (below ).
Hardy perennials, such as ''
Hosta
''Hosta'' (, syn. ''Funkia'') is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies and occasionally by the Japanese name gibōshi. Hostas are widely cultivated as shade-tolerant foliage plants. The genus is currently placed in the fa ...
'', become dormant after the first frosts and regrow when spring arrives. The entire visible plant may turn completely brown until the spring warmth, or may drop all of its leaves and flowers, leaving the stem and stalk only. Evergreen plants, such as pine trees, withstand frost although all or most growth stops.
Frost crack
Frost crack or Southwest canker is a form of tree bark damage sometimes found on thin barked trees, visible as vertical fractures on the southerly facing surfaces of tree trunks. Frost crack is distinct from sun scald and sun crack and physically ...
is a bark defect caused by a combination of low temperatures and heat from the winter sun.
Vegetation is not necessarily damaged when leaf temperatures drop below the freezing point of their cell contents. In the absence of a site
nucleating the formation of ice crystals, the leaves remain in a
supercooled liquid state, safely reaching temperatures of . However, once frost forms, the leaf
cells may be damaged by sharp ice crystals.
Hardening is the process by which a plant becomes tolerant to low temperatures. See also
Cryobiology
Cryobiology is the branch of biology that studies the effects of low temperatures on living things within Earth's cryosphere or in science. The word cryobiology is derived from the Greek words κρῧος ryos "cold", βίος ios "life", and λό ...
.
Certain
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...
, notably ''
Pseudomonas syringae
''Pseudomonas syringae'' is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacterium with polar flagella. As a plant pathogen, it can infect a wide range of species, and exists as over 50 different pathovars, all of which are available to researchers from intern ...
'', are particularly effective at triggering frost formation, raising the nucleation temperature to about . Bacteria lacking ice nucleation-active proteins (
ice-minus bacteria) result in greatly reduced frost damage.
Protection methods
![CuritibaFrostGeada](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/CuritibaFrostGeada.jpg)
Typical measures to prevent frost or reduce its severity include one or more of:
*deploying powerful blowers to simulate wind, thereby preventing the formation of accumulations of cold air. There are variations on this theme. One variety is the wind machine, an engine-driven propeller mounted on a vertical pole that blows air almost horizontally. Wind machines were introduced as a method for frost protection in California during the 1920s, but they were not widely accepted until the 1940s and 1950s. Now, they are commonly used in many parts of the world. Another is the
selective inverted sink
The selective inverted sink or SIS is a device used by farmers to protect plants from frost, developed by Uruguayan Rafael Guarga in the late 1990s.
The sink is actually a large fan housed in a chimney-like structure, and works by defeating s ...
, a device which prevents frost by drawing cold air from the ground and blowing it up through a chimney. It was originally developed to prevent frost damage to
citrus
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...
fruits in
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. In New Zealand,
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
s are used in similar fashion, especially in the
vineyard
A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...
regions such as
Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
. By dragging down warmer air from the
inversion layers, and preventing the ponding of colder air on the ground, the low-flying helicopters prevent damage to the fruit buds. As the operations are conducted at night, and have in the past involved up to 130 aircraft per night in one region, safety rules are strict.
[''Helicopters Fight Frost'' – ''Vector'', ]Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA; Māori: ''Te Mana Rererangi Tūmatanui o Aotearoa'') is the government agency tasked with establishing civil aviation safety and security standards in New Zealand.
The CAA also monitors adherence ...
, September/ October 2008, Page 8-9 Although not a dedicated method,
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...
s have similar (small) effect of vertically mixing air layers of different temperature.
[Turbines and turbulence](_blank)
, ''Nature (journal)
''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and technology. ...
'', 468, 1001, 23 December 2010, DOI:10.1038/4681001a, published online 22 December 2010.[Somnath Baidya Roy and Justin J. Traiteur]
Impacts of wind farms on surface air temperatures
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 107, No. 42, October 19, 2010, p. 17,899.
, Science Daily.
*For high-value crops, farmers may
wrap trees and cover crops.
*Heating to slow the drop in temperature is not practical except for high-value crops grown over small areas.
*Production of smoke to reduce cooling by radiation
*Spraying crops with a layer of water releases latent heat, preventing harmful freezing of the tissues of the plants that it coats.
Such measures need to be applied with discretion, because they may do more harm than good; for example, spraying crops with water can cause damage if the plants become overburdened with ice. An effective, low cost method for small crop farms and plant nurseries, exploits the
latent heat of freezing. A pulsed irrigation timer
[ delivers water through existing overhead sprinklers at a low volumes to combat frosts down to .] If the water freezes, it gives off its latent heat, preventing the temperature of the foliage from falling much below zero.[
]
Frost-free areas
Frost-free areas are found mainly in the lowland tropics, where they cover almost all land except at altitude
Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...
s above about near the equator and around in the semiarid areas in tropical regions. Some areas on the oceanic margins of the subtropics are also frost-free, as are highly oceanic areas near windward coasts. The most poleward frost-free areas are the lower altitudes of the Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
, Île Amsterdam
Île Amsterdam (), also known as Amsterdam Island and New Amsterdam (''Nouvelle-Amsterdam''), is an island of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the southern Indian Ocean that together with neighbouring Île Saint-Paul to the south f ...
, Île Saint-Paul
Île Saint-Paul (Saint Paul Island) is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (''Terres australes et antarctiques françaises'', TAAF) in the Indian Ocean, with an area of . The island is located about south of the la ...
, and Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena a ...
.
In the contiguous United States, southern Florida around Miami Beach and the Florida Keys are the only reliably frost-free areas, as well as the Channel Islands off the coast of California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. The hardiness zones in these regions are 11a and 11b.
Personifications
Frost is personified in Russian culture as Ded Moroz
Ded Moroz (russian: Дед Мороз, ; Russian diminutive: russian: Дедушка Мороз, Dedushka Moroz, label=none; sk, Dedo Mráz; pl, Dziadek Mróz) or Morozko (russian: Морозко) is a legendary figure similar to Saint Nicho ...
. Indigenous peoples of Russia
Lists of indigenous peoples of Russia cover the indigenous ethnic groups in Russia other than Russians. As of 2010 these constituted about 20% of the population. The period lists are organized by the official classifications based on the number o ...
such as the Mordvins
The Mordvins (also Unified Mordvin people, Mordvinians, Mordovians; russian: мордва, Mordva, Mordvins (no equivalents in Moksha and Erzya)) is an obsolete but official term used in the Russian Federation to refer both to Erzyas and Mo ...
have their own traditions of frost deities.
English folklore tradition holds that Jack Frost
Jack Frost is a personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter, and freezing cold. He is a variant of Old Man Winter who is held responsible for frosty weather, nipping the fingers and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, ...
, an elfish creature, is responsible for feathery patterns of frost found on windows on cold mornings.
Gallery
File:Frost on a nettle, Netherlands.jpg, Frost on a nettle
File:Fern Frost.JPG, Fern frost on a window
File:Dülmen, Hausdülmen, Distel -- 2021 -- 5079.jpg, Frost on a thistle in Hausdülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
, Germany
File:Window-Frost.jpg, Window frost
File:Frost on leaves.jpg, Frost on plant leaves in the Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
File:Hoar Frost.JPG, Surface hoar in Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
File:Hoar frost on a snow field.jpg, Hoar frost in Julian Alps
The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large p ...
File:Frost on Birch Tree in Stockholm 20180110.jpg, Frost on birch tree in Stockholm
File:Frost in Ranu Pani on 4 August 2018 by Susanto Tan 6.jpg, Frost on grass in Ranu Pani, East Java
East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...
, Indonesia
File:Frost on birch tree.jpg, Frost on birch stem in Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
File:Sydneyfrost.jpg, Frost on grass in Sydney
File:Leaf with frost.jpg, An oak leaf with frost in Sweden
See also
*Black ice
Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, is a thin coating of glaze ice on a surface, especially on streets. The ice itself is not black, but visually transparent, allowing the often black road below to be seen through it. The typically low level ...
*Frost (temperature)
Freezing, available onlinlibrary.wmo.int/ref> or frost occurs when the air temperature falls below the freezing point of water (0 °C, 32 °F, 273 K). This is usually measured at the height of 1.2 metres above the ground surfac ...
*Frost heaving
Frost heaving (or a frost heave) is an upwards swelling of soil during freezing conditions caused by an increasing presence of ice as it grows towards the surface, upwards from the depth in the soil where freezing temperatures have penetrated in ...
*Frost line
The frost line—also known as frost depth or freezing depth—is most commonly the depth to which the groundwater in soil is expected to freeze. The frost depth depends on the climatic conditions of an area, the heat transfer properties of the s ...
*Frostbite
Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the ha ...
*Ground frost
Ground frost refers to the various coverings of ice produced by the direct deposition of water vapor on objects and trees, whose surfaces have a temperature below the freezing point of water (0 °C, 32 °F).
Types
The three main typ ...
* Icing (nautical)
*Needle ice
Needle ice is a needle-shaped column of ice formed by groundwater. Needle ice forms when the temperature of the soil is above and the surface temperature of the air is below . Liquid water underground rises to the surface by capillary action, a ...
References
External links
Guide to Frost
How much do you know about frost?
– ''BBC''
American Meteorological Society, ''Glossary of Meteorology'' – Hoarfrost
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{{Authority control
Frost and rime
Psychrometrics
Water ice