Monthly Archives: February 2026

Frost Flowers, Hair Ice

Hair Ice, Spring Coming

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We had a false spring at the start of February, followed by a cold snap last week that gave us a couple good hair ice (frost flower) mornings.

The one yesterday is likely the last one of the season, so I took half an hour off work to tromp around in the cold woods.

A stick on the ground has a complex formation of frost growing out of it. It looks like short, wavy locks of pure white hair

This is a globally rare phenomenon, but I am lucky enough to live in an area where it usually happens at least several times each winter.

This has been an especially good winter for hair ice!

A closeup of the hairlike clumps of frost. There is a longer lower layer, and shorter upward-curving layers "growing" from higher on the curve of the stick

To “grow,” hair ice needs temperatures just below freezing (~28-32F seems to be the happy range) for at least a few hours. It needs thoroughly sodden dead sticks that have been colonized by fungus Exidiopsis effusa.

Around here, they’re alder sticks. Fortunately they are a common native.

Extreme closeup of hairlike frost formations. It clearly "grows" from the stick as from a scalp. Some of the strands are long and nearly straight, forming clumps. Others form little curls.

Around here, the sweet spot seems to be dead sticks that have been down a couple years, but they will only bear good frost flowers / hair ice for one season.

I have set aside “good” sticks before, and the next season there might be a few paltry formations, but short and disappointing.

A gracious curving wave of hairlike frost grows from a stick, with bark and moss providing interest. There is a nice tight little wave above the broad sweep

Even within one season, especially spectacular sticks at the beginning may be subsiding by the end.

This is a very nice formation, but —

Curving formation of frost with grass and blackberry leaves

The one from a month ago was much more spectacular.

A long curly expanse of hair-like frost grows out of a stick, interacting with grass and blackberry leaves

Note that this is a longer shot, that includes another six inches of stick above the newer close-up.

That is partly because this earlier formation was just bigger and more impressive; the newer formation is still lovely, but smaller.

A stick slants across the middle frame, with a curling wave of hair ice growing out of the bottom

It makes for a wonderful theme-and-variation throughout the season, with different temperature ranges growing frost out on different sticks to different extents.

Documenting the beauties of hair ice is one of my winter joys.

A stick grows a dramatic wave of hair ice, with the bark constraining the growth and a little twig-stub poking out of the middle of the formation

Thanks for joining me for this jaunt in the woods!

If you’re hungry for more, I have lots of posts of hair ice/frost flowers. Click on the topics above the header to easily find other posts.