Freezing rain

In college in Utah, I used to proof-read papers for people all the time. I enjoyed it, and often learned things from the papers I read. One time, a friend asked me to read a paper he had written. He was from Alabama, and wrote a paper about things he missed from home. He described walking in the woods near his home following a "freezing rain" storm. When I reached that point, I looked up and suggested he should call it "hail" instead of "freezing rain."

Grant laughed at me, saying that the two were not synonymous. He said that freezing rain was a phenomenon we didn't have in the West. He encouraged me to read on, and the description was something almost magical. I wished I could see it with my eyes, and not just my imagination.

It was several years later, married and with two kids, after my husband had uprooted us and transplanted us to Indiana, that I got my wish. And maybe it was Grant's wistful remembering that made the beauty of the rain glazed world all the more breathtaking to me. Since then, I've seen several freezing rain storms.

Yesterday morning, I opened the blinds on the back of the house to find that the night's freezing rain had studded the ceiling of our deck with tiny icicles. The snow that had fallen since then blanketed the floor of the deck, and it was so cold that not a drop of water had melted from the glorious crystal chandelier above. It was a stunning view. Throughout the day, I found myself drawn to the beautiful scene, trying to photograph it, but never quite capturing the amazing magic.

Freezing rain falls as water, only freezing after making contact with objects at the ground. It coats every twig, branch, leaf or needle with a clear coat of ice. Of course it makes the ground very slick as well, and when it coats power lines they can become heavy and come down. Tree limbs freeze, become brittle, and a little wind or snow can break them as well, bringing down more lines or causing other damage. One always holds one's breath when the meteorologist says there is a chance of freezing rain. I always hope, though, that maybe the freezing rain will be light enough to just make the world into a crystal palace.