My house is just visible through the trees.

Rime Frost Thick low cloud descended on the Cotswold Hills again today, but this time it brought with it a band of dangerously cold air (around minus 15 by all accounts). These bands of cold are an occasional feature of the Cotswolds, but are usually short-lived locally as they tend to weave in and around the many hills and valleys according to variable wind direction.After yesterday’s slightly odd weather, I suspected that we might get such a thing today and decided to leave Tess at home just in case…as well as to give her a much-deserved break (she didn’t see it that way however and apparently cried and howled at the front door for nearly twenty minutes after I left home this morning (9th January)! I’m glad I did leave her behind though because I ended up spending most of the day ‘immersed’ in cold air for the simple reason that the wind speed was only about 2 or 3 and the band of cold remained in the area for longer than would normally be the case.What you can see on the branches of the trees in the pictures above, below and opposite, is ‘rime’ frost rather than ‘hoar’ frost. Rime is ice that is formed when a water-saturated breeze or wind blows across the landscape, touching everything in its path. It makes things like branches look as though they’ve been dipped repeatedly in icing sugar and usually only occurs when temperatures are extremely low and the air is very moist (as it is in low cloud conditions).Hoar frost is slightly different in that it occurs when water vapour touches a very cold surface and freezes on it instantly. This can happen to the branches of bushes and trees which will become covered in ice crystals that can grow to look like tiny jagged fingers of ice.Now you know why people avoid me at parties!Anyway, I was wearing all the right gear and there wasn’t a problem. I did manage to get a few photos however, though they don’t do the real thing any justice I’m afraid. It’s one of Nature’s oddities I think and it’s quite surreal to actually see your surroundings gradually turn into such a ghostly landscape in such a short space of time!