> Freezing rain (falls as rain, freezes upon hitting the cold ground),
> is especially nasty, coating everything in ice, and leaving a layer
> of ice on top of the snow (of varying thickness). Really heavy
> freezing rain will take branches off of trees (or even shatter trees)
> from the weight of the ice.
One of my vivid childhood winter memories (from Portland, OR, where winters are rarely harsh) was what we called a "silver thaw". I always associate this with freezing rain, but it may be an entirely different phenomenon; Canadians or other arctic dwellers should clarify here....
Behind our house was a huge (40'+ tall) beech tree. Every branch and twig was coated with ice, and it looked like a majestic, murderous crystal chandelier. Where branches were normally 15'+ from the ground, they bent down so that a (foolhardy) person could break off an icicle (thus possibly shaking the already-strained branch to the breaking point, bringing down ice-laden limbs). The back yard was beautiful and shining and magical, and my parents made us stay out of that corner of the house for fear that a stray gust of wind would bring a branch down into the kitchen.
This has a place in Glorantha somewhere.
-- Pile on! http://pile.org/
Powered by hypermail