Frosty Morning in the New Forest - January 10th, 2009

Another sharp frost, though temperatures weren't quite as low as some previous nights. However, more moisure in the air led to a heavier coating of ice. This view is just after sunrise under overcast skies and temperatures around -5°C:

Displayed well here is the effect of shade on the frost. The areas in front of the gorse have had an accumulation of several days of unmelted frost (in the shade), whereas areas around have melted daily in the sun. The result was a number of 'frost shadows' across the area:

The mist and low cloud soon started to clear. Here you can see Sway Tower to the left. It is the tallest concrete 'folly' in the world:

On the open forest, the grass was well and truely covered in frost:

Next I headed back to Lymington Harbour to see how the sea ice was holding up. Surprisingly, the whole harbour had frozen right across. This certainly hasn't happened in the last 10 years at least:

It's not often Lymington Pier station gets an all-day frost, situated next to the warm waters of the harbour: