‘Rime Ice’ Creates Incredible Natural Ice Sculpture on Mount Washington in New Hampshire
Mother Nature is the ultimate artist.
Check out this natural sculpture that looks like a frozen tornado atop Mount Washington.
It's created by 'rime ice,' which is a combination of fog/clouds, ice and wind. The temperature has to be below freezing and voila!
Just absolutely stunning.
According to the Mount Washington Observatory Facebook page, the mountain spends 60% of the year in fog and has an average temperature of 27 degrees. Perfect conditions for rime ice.
In fact, the Summit of Mount Washington "can see rimming rates of 9 inches or more in an hour."
Mount Washington has extreme weather conditions and that is putting it lightly. It's known for "the world's worst weather."
If you have never hiked up the mountain, you can take a drive to get to the top. It's called the "auto road." It takes about 30 minutes to drive up and the same amount of time to drive down.
The Auto Road is the very first man-made tourist attraction, built in 1861, according to mt-washington.com.
Many people opt for that option rather than hiking up over 6,000 feet (6,288 to be precise) up to the summit.
Also, Mount Washington is less than 2 miles up, but don't let that fool you. It is a difficult climb for beginners.
This most recent 'rime ice' tornado sculpture is not the only time that a similar sculpture has taken place.
If conditions are right, they happen frequently.
Have you ever been to the top of Mount Washington?
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Gallery Credit: Jeff Parsons