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The Cairnwell, Cairngorm mountains, Scotland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Latitude: 56° 52' 46'' N

Longitude: 3° 25' 16'' W

03 March 2009 1200 (Local Time)

Image P/S code: P.11.4.5

Image I.D.: 5441

Rime
This is a close-up view of rime deposited on a mast on the summit of the Cairnwell in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland, UK (altitude 933 m).

Rime is a deposit of ice generally formed by the freezing of supercooled fog or cloud droplets on objects whose surface temperature is below or slightly above 0 °C.
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© Roger Kingham
The Cairnwell, Cairngorm mountains, Scotland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Latitude: 56° 52' 46'' N
Longitude: 3° 25' 16'' W
03 March 2009 1200 (Local Time)

Image P/S code: P.11.4.5
Image I.D.: 5441
Hard rime
This picture shows hard rime deposited on an object on the summit of Mt. Fichtelberg (altitude 1 215 m) in the Ore mountains of Germany. The mountain peak was affected by freezing fog that flowed over the rim of the Ore mountains from the Bohemian valley of the River Eger. The deposit of rime ice was formed by the freezing of the supercooled fog or cloud droplets on objects at a temperature below 0 °C in a strong southerly wind.
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© Claudia Hinz
Mount Fichtelberg, Germany
Latitude: 50° 25' 46'' N
Longitude: 12° 57' 15'' E
01 February 2014 0753 (Local Time)

Image P/S code: P.11.4.5.2
Image I.D.: 4710
Soft rime
In this picture, soft rime covers leafless deciduous trees in Dunkeswell in south-west England, UK. The deposit of rime accumulated over a two-day period of freezing fog with temperatures several degrees Celsius below freezing point.
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© Matthew Clark
Dunkeswell, Devon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Latitude: 50° 50' 42'' N
Longitude: 3° 13' 21'' W
07 December 2010 0830 (Local Time)

Camera direction: towards W
Image P/S code: S.11.4.5.1 1
Image I.D.: 5023
Soft rime
A clear, seasonally cold night with strong radiational cooling over a deep snow pack saturated the boundary layer. Deposits of soft rime formed on objects, including this bush near the town of Millgrove, Ontario, Canada. In some cases, the protrusions were 2 to 3 cm thick.
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© Eric Van Lochem
Flamborough, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43° 20' 0'' N
Longitude: 80° 5' 3'' W
23 February 2005 1000 (Local Time)

Camera direction: towards N
Image P/S code: S.11.4.5.1 2
Image I.D.: 5537
Soft rime
Steam fog that developed over a partially unfrozen Saint John River (off to the side of the image) in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada on a bitterly cold morning caused soft rime to accumulate on surfaces closest to the river. Winds were calm as an Arctic high pressure covered the region. This allowed strong radiational cooling on a clear night over a fresh snow pack.

Soft rime is a fragile deposit consisting mainly of thin needles or scales of ice. It is deposited under calm or low wind conditions and mainly forms when the ambient air temperature is lower than –8 °C. At temperatures well below –8 °C, the formation of soft rime does not necessarily require the presence of fog. Although the temperature in this instance was –24 °C, it was noticed that deposits of rime were thickest nearest to the river where steam fog had occurred.
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© Eric Van Lochem
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Latitude: 45° 57' 49'' N
Longitude: 66° 38' 35'' W
20 December 2016 1030 (Local Time)

Camera direction: towards E
Image P/S code: S.11.4.5.1 4
Image I.D.: 5559
Needle-like soft rime
Thick freezing fog all night and a light variable breeze gave rise to these needle-like soft rime spikes during the morning. The screen minimum temperature within the observatory enclosure where the photograph was taken was –5.3 °C, but the grass minimum was –5.2 °C, and the grass temperature was 0.5 °C or so above the screen temperature for most of the night, owing to upward heat flux from the relatively warm ground and restricted long-wave radiation through deep, thick fog. The temperature at the time the photograph was taken was –4.4 °C and the visibility was just below 200 m.
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© Stephen Burt
Stratfield Mortimer, near Reading, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Latitude: 51° 22' 12'' N
Longitude: 1° 2' 24'' W
12 December 2012 0907 (Local Time)

Image P/S code: S.11.4.5.1 5
Image I.D.: 5670
Soft rime
Clear skies with light winds overnight led to freezing fog that deposited rime; the air minimum temperature observed less than 50 m distant from the site of the photograph was –5.2 °C and the temperature at the time of the photograph was –2.8 °C. The fog was less than 10 m deep at the time of the photograph, although horizontal visibility was just 150 m.

Soft rime is a fragile deposit consisting mainly of thin needles or scales of ice. Near the ground, it is deposited under calm or light wind conditions on all sides of exposed objects. In this picture, there are deposits on all sides of the gatepost, but they are slightly thicker on the windward-facing edges at 2 and 3.
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© Stephen Burt
Stratfield Mortimer, near Reading, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Latitude: 51° 22' 12'' N
Longitude: 1° 2' 24'' W
14 January 2012 1041 (Local Time)

Image P/S code: S.11.4.5.1 3
Image I.D.: 5671
Soft rime
Clear skies with light winds overnight led to extensive, thick, freezing fog and deposits of soft rime; the air minimum temperature observed less than 50 m distant from the site of the photograph was –5.1 °C and the temperature at the time of the photograph was –3 °C.

Soft rime is a fragile deposit consisting mainly of thin needles (as seen at 1 and 2) or scales of ice. Near the ground, it is deposited under calm or light wind conditions on all sides of exposed objects. In this picture, the greatest deposits are on the sides of the leaves and berries that faced towards a very light wind (3 and 4).
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© Stephen Burt
Stratfield Mortimer, near Reading, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Latitude: 51° 22' 12'' N
Longitude: 1° 2' 24'' W
20 November 2005 0946 (Local Time)

Image P/S code: P.11.4.5.1
Image I.D.: 5672
Hard rime
The photo shows a thick deposit of hard rime on the summit of Mt. Washington (altitude 1 917 m) in New Hampshire, USA. The deposit has built up to a thickness of about 50 to 65 cm on the windward side of the structure. The rime formed through supercooled water droplets freezing on impact; this produced ice composed of grains with some trapped air gaps, rendering the deposit white.
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© Stephen Burt
Summit Mt Washington (1917 m), New Hampshire, United States of America
Latitude: 44° 16' 12'' N
Longitude: 71° 19' 48'' W
05 May 1991 1550 (Local Time)

Camera direction: towards N
Image P/S code: S.11.4.5.2 1
Image I.D.: 5674
Hard rime
In this photo, the windward sides of structures on the summit of Mt. Washington (altitude 1 917 m) in New Hampshire, USA are covered in thick deposits of hard rime (seen at 1 and 2). The ice has formed through supercooled cloud droplets rapidly freezing on impact with the structures, such that the drops have frozen more or less individually to grains of ice, leaving air gaps and rendering this type of ice white. In places the rime deposits are about 50 to 65 cm in thickness, extending outwards from the structures on the windward side (seen at 3 and 4); this indicates that the wind was blowing from right to left.
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© Stephen Burt
Summit Mt Washington (1917 m), New Hampshire, United States of America
Latitude: 44° 16' 12'' N
Longitude: 71° 19' 48'' W
15 May 1991 1530 (Local Time)

Camera direction: towards S
Image P/S code: S.11.4.5.2 2
Image I.D.: 5675
Rime
(NB. Day of month estimated)

The preceding night was clear and moonlit, with very good visibility. The only cloud then present was a cap around the top of Mont Ventoux, presumably of orographic origin, with its base at 1800 m; very dense fog was observed at the mountain top. The cloud cap disappeared at sunrise. The building is covered with white ice, some of which is developed outward to the right in spike-like form to a thickness of a metre or more in places, indicating that during the deposition of the rime the wind was blowing mainly from right to left. The ice was evidently formed by super-cooled cloud droplets freezing on impact with the building, producing ice composed of grains, more or less separated by trapped air, rendering it white.
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© F. Meyer
Mont Ventoux, France
Latitude: 44° 10' 27'' N
Longitude: 5° 16' 43'' E
15 February 1934 0900 (Local Time)

Camera direction: towards N
C_L = /, C_M = /, C_H = /

Rime

Hard rime

Soft rime

Soft rime

Soft rime

Needle-like soft rime

Soft rime

Soft rime

Hard rime

Hard rime

Rime