Freezing fog

Freezing fog is a meteorological phenomenon that I've only ever seen in France. It happens here in Saint-Aignan infrequently, but more often in other places where I've lived and traveled, including Normandy, Picardy, Champagne, and Lorraine.

I don't remember such a thing on the U.S. East Coast or in the Midwest. Maybe I just missed it. We certainly had freezing rain or even ice storms fairly often, and those are really rare in France. This is a different climate.

The result of freezing fog is a thick, crusty frost.

Freezing fog was what we had yesterday morning. It was really cold by Saint-Aignan standards — the low was -7.5ºC, or about +18ºF — and a cold fog had blown over from the north during the night. The trees and grape vines were coated in a thick layer of frost, especially on their north side.

Friday 08 January 2010 in the Renaudière vineyard

Walt laughs when I say this, but I think we had what I'd call "river-effect" fog or frost. The effect of the river on the climate is much more attenuated than the effect of a big lake like Lake Erie or Lake Ontario is in Upstate New York, for example — but I think it's real. The river isn't frozen over, and it's relatively warm waters release just enough humidity into the air to create freezing fog along the south side of the Cher River when there's a frigid went blowing out of the north.

About half a mile out from the house

Next thing you know you'll be seeing pond-effect snow and fog, Walt said to me. Ha ha ha. But often there is fog over the river, down in the river valley, on chilly mornings, while it is bright and clear up here on the highlands where the grapes are planted. And, under similar weather conditions, I've seen it snow on the south side of the Seine, along the Left Bank in Paris, when it was bright an sunny on the Right Bank, to the north. So I'm sticking with my theory.

Click on the pictures with your mouse to enlarge them

Whatever it was, it was pretty. I went out for a walk with the dog early, and it was a veritable fairyland out there. But it was too dark to take pictures. The fog hadn't yet lifted, in other words. Besides, I needed to have gloves on to keep my fingers from freezing, and it's not easy to take pictures with a pocket-size digital camera when you're wearing mittens. Try it sometime.

You see, I did get out of the car to take a few closeups.

Later in the morning, I needed to go to the supermarket to get some things for the weekend. I drove out through the vineyard and took some pictures, basically from the car. The pictures in this post are just a few of the ones I took.

A close-up view of this scene is my current blog banner.

The reason I needed to go to the supermarket yesterday is that snow was being predicted for today. And sure enough, it is snowing this morning. It's supposed to last all day, with temperatures well below freezing.

8:40 a.m. and good news: the bread lady made it
up the hill with our baguettes for the weekend.
I looked out the window and saw her coming.

The icy weather means KP duty for me. I'm making Poulet Vallée d'Auge, a Normandy specialty of chicken cooked in cider and apple brandy (calvados) with mushrooms, shallots, cream, and herbs.