© 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
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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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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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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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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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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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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(NB. Hour of day approximated)
Soft rime has covered a leafless deciduous tree. The deposit occurred during a period of light winds and freezing fog. The area was covered by a weak ridge of high pressure from an anticyclone centred over France. SE England was affected by freezing fog.
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