Frazil ice–RonovanWrites Challenge #79

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Frazil_ice_in_Yosemite_Creek
Frazil ice flow in Yosemite Creek, courtesy U. S. National Park Service

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Frazil needles sink,
River dreams of warmer days,
Ice crystals cluster.

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Millhaven Creek, Ontario:  prone to frazil ice–Ontheland photo

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I enjoy learning the names of phenomena that I’ve seen, but never had a word for. Recently, I found such a word while reading a Conservation Authority press release warning people to watch out for ‘frazil’ ice along the banks of streams, on lakes, and on rivers.  I have read several definitions of frazil ice.  Basically I have gathered that it is new ice formed in moving waters, in extremely cold conditions (-6° C or less). Needle-shaped ice crystals multiply, forming slush or thin plates of ice floating on the surface.  The shores of the creek above are probably quite slushy with frazil ice.  It takes prolonged periods of cold for the creek to appear frozen over, and even then, one would want to be very careful stepping out onto it–you could fall through.

My post is in response to  RonovanWrites Haiku Challenge.  The prompt words this week are ‘crystal’ and ‘hope’.  Synonyms are allowed so I used the word ‘dream’ instead of ‘hope’.  To read more haiku or to find out how to participate, please visit the RonovanWrites link above.

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Published by Janice

My name is Janice.  I started blogging as Ontheland when I moved from Toronto to a rural area near Kingston, Ontario in Canada.  Over time I have found myself writing poetry, mostly in Japanese forms, such as haiku and haibun.  One of my deepest interests is the natural world: the joy of it and how we can look after it better.

26 thoughts on “Frazil ice–RonovanWrites Challenge #79”

  2. How interesting. The more I read blogging posts about the dangers of ice in the northern hemisphere the more I think our dried out pastures and sun baked earth here in the Aussie summer aren’t so hard to put up with after all.

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    1. Well the moral of the story is to stay away from or be cautious around water in winter 🙂 I actually find stories from Australia in the blogging world scary sometimes: giant biting insects, snakes, crocodiles, spiders–though sometimes I wonder if people are exaggerating. Anyway it’s fun reading about the other side of the planet 🙂 and then we can take the worst of the other side and feel better–I ‘d die in your heat, but there is much in Australia I’d love to experience first hand.

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      1. There are some strange creatures here. Crocodiles are in the north, I’m not sure about the giant biting insects though there are some nasty snakes, spiders and ants in some places. To get bitten is unusual but it does happen. I live in the south – it gets quite hot some summer days but it isn’t constant. I guess it’s what you are used to – I would find the cold you experience very difficult.

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      2. I guess we just adapt…I remembered I have to watch out for ticks in the yard and garden which bury into your skin and possibly give you Lyme disease..yuck… 🙂

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      3. Yikes. Lyme disease may or may not exist in Australia – some doctors say it does, some disagree. Ticks are terrible things though. Luckily we don’t have them where I live.

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  3. Janice, lovely haiku and I enjoyed reading about the word ‘frazil’. When younger I would make up words when I thought they were lacking by there non-existence and this sounds just like that. Brilliant – I won’t forget this and will try to fit it into all relevant conversations!

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    1. That’s great! I keep thinking about the word that sounds similar: ‘frazzle’–I ‘d always heard that some languages have more words for different types of snow and other natural phenomena but now I am discovering there are some specific words that are not generally used (or I haven’t heard them used before)

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