Photo Friday: Frozen

One of DW's and my worries over the winter is the snow accumulation on the roof of the gazebo we built last summer. It's a sturdy structure but we don't want to risk a large pile of snow bringing it down.

One of the great things about the gazebo is that it's black, so even in frigid temperatures, once the sun hits its surface, it starts to melt the snow. As the snow slides to the edge, it curls before it drops off.

With the 30 cm or more of snow that we've accumulated over the past week, DW was worried that the snow wouldn't melt, so she went outside, in the middle of a day-long storm, and swept off the excess snow. Days later, her efforts were worth it. We could see a neighbour, who had a similar structure, and half a metre lay piled up after the sun came out. To this day, his gazebo is covered in a thick layer of snow.

When the sun came out, most of the snow had melted off the gazebo, but when snow on the following day came, another thin layer was added.

The snow curled and melted.

But because it's been especially cold, not all of the curled snow has fallen. Instead, it's left ragged edges of clear icicles. In the afternoon light, a particular icicle glimmered.

Being trapped in the house for more than a week because of the weather, I was worried about my POTW project. And while I would have rather been able to venture out, this was going to have to do.

Happy Friday!