St bruno ice needles DSC 0670 edited

An ice-oddity. I was in the woods on the weekend and came across masses of needle ice like this along the banks of small streams. I have not seen ice behave like this before, although it is a known phenomenon. Apparently, if the soil is saturated with water and the soil temperature is above freezing but the air temperature is below freezing, ice forms at the surface and is pushed up by hydrostatic pressure from the water below (not sure I understand that to be honest) to form these strands or needles of ice. These were about 5 to 7 cm long (roughly two to two and half inches). They remind me of the fibre optic “hairy” lamps that were popular in the 1970s and 80s.