Today in the Shire,
the weather could only be described as glum.
Gray and heavy, the sky hung over everything like a cold, wet blanket.
And by nightfall, a light mist began to fall.
I'm not looking forward to any more precipitation,
but at least a little rain will help clear up the remaining snow,
now lying in sooty patches and piles in yards and parking lots.
So I went looking for something interesting and uplifting about winter.
And I ran across a winter phenomenon I had never heard of before.
It's called "diamond dust."
Diamond dust is crystallized ice that forms in water vapor.
In other words, it is so cold that water vapor freezes in place.
According to Wikipedia, diamond dust often forms
when the sky is clear or nearly clear.
Ordinarily, the phenomenon occurs in the arctic or antarctic,
but it can happen in sub-freezing temperatures.
Here's a video from the Wikipedia page that shows diamond dust in Finland:
Ice crystals dancing in the sun.
It's enough to make me appreciate winter.
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