Ice Formation in Worcestershire

Abstract

ON January 27, when the great snowstorm was developing, the Evesham district experienced a relatively light fall and this changed at night to ‘supercooled’ rain. Sunday, January 28, found us awaking to a strange ‘creaking’ of trees in the wind due, I found, to an armour of thick ice. Most of the ice was on top—my aerial had ¾ in. above, ¼ in. below. Wider exploration presented an amazing experience. Roads, walls, trees, hedges—everything was coated with inches of crystal clear ice. Branches and twigs were encased in ice many times their own diameter, and many were, like the telegraph wires in the accompanying illustration, either broken down or snapping as I passed. Slight rain was still falling and freezing instantly. There seems no doubt that rain had been falling all night in a ‘supercooled’ state, contact with objects initiating solidification, generally complete before the water could run underneath. People were chiselling their way into cars left outside, and ice on one near Broadway Tower was 6 in. thick.