We had some serious low temperatures here in Calgary for the past couple of weeks or so and when I say cold, I mean really cold, around -30 Celsius but honestly, I have seen worse in these parts. Nothing to be scared of, as long as you stay indoors in front of a crackling wood burning fireplace, but try to go out with your camera and things stop being funny anymore. Nonetheless, this is exactly what I did since I’ve been wanting for ages to get some hoarfrost action in my pictures and finally here they are.
A couple of words about hoarfrost, which I had no idea what it was until I moved to Alberta. We all know what is frost and how it takes shape, that thin coating of ice formed as a result of humidity and cold air. Hoarfrost is like frost on steroids, it forms on cold, clear nights when conditions are such that heat radiates out to the open sky faster than it can be replaced from nearby sources such as wind or other warm objects. For me kinda sounds the same like normal frost but heck, I don’t know, I only know there is a difference which is both amazing and quite freaky at the same time.
It does look pretty cool though and if you get past the freakin’ cold then you might get some great pictures. Nature is great, unfortunately I could only find in my travels a few abandoned barns and as it happens during winter in Alberta, no sign of clouds, not even a little puffy one. This in itself is a really cool fact, in Alberta the sky is simply breathtakingly blue and… cold, especially in the winter but, I have seen great colors and fantastic cloud formations even in the summer.
Anyway, this is it, a ton of hoarfrost everywhere you look and the old abandoned barns or farmsteads made the whole trip worthwhile. I only wish I had a little bit of clouds.
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