# Frost pattern on cold window



## mellowyellow (Apr 2, 2021)

*Photographer*: *Mary Kelly*

Image won't load 
https://epod.usra.edu/.a/6a0105371bb32c970b02788016287f200d-600wi


The photo above shows an elaborate *frost pattern* on a storm window in my home in Des Moines, Iowa. It was snapped around midday on February 6, 2021. Fern-like frost patterns like this will often form on windowpanes once the outside air temperature drops below about 14 degrees F (-10 C) if there's sufficient moisture (usually transferred from the inside of the house) to allow *frost crystals* to grow.

Outside, the air temperature was 9 degrees F (-13 C). The inside temperature was about 66 degrees F (19 C), but on the second floor, where the window frost was prominent, it was probably cooler because the heating vents here aren’t very efficient. Worth noting, the humidity may have been somewhat higher than normal because the bathroom shower had been used earlier in the day. Also, it should be mentioned that the upstairs windows don’t completely latch. So it’s likely that the cold temperature of the indoor glass allowed moisture in the upstairs rooms to *crystalize* directly onto the windowpanes.


----------



## MarciKS (Apr 2, 2021)

on occasion i get frost on the inside of the windows.


----------



## MarciKS (Apr 2, 2021)

@hollydolly one apt i lived in years ago...the frost would get on the sill and the wall.


----------



## hollydolly (Apr 2, 2021)

MarciKS said:


> @hollydolly one apt i lived in years ago...the frost would get on the sill and the wall.


When my daughter was little we only had single pane windows in this house,  and no central heating, only a paraffin heater in the upstairs hall outside of her bedroom  as well as our downstairs main fireplace , and we'd get ice inside the windows in the bedrooms , so I would send her to bed in winter, with pyjamas, cardigan,  socks hat and gloves...

Every morning we had to dry up the window sills where the ice had melted...


----------



## MarciKS (Apr 2, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> When my daughter was little we only had single pane windows in this house,  and no central heating, only a paraffin heater in the upstairs hall outside of her bedroom  as well as our downstairs main fireplace , and we'd get ice inside the windows in the bedrooms , so I would send her to bed in winter, with pyjamas, cardigan,  socks hat and gloves...
> 
> Every morning we had to dry up the window sills where the ice had melted...


yup been there done that.


----------



## Keesha (Apr 2, 2021)

Nature is amazing!
That’s beautiful.


----------



## Tish (Apr 5, 2021)

Wow, it looks like a lace curtain.


----------



## fmdog44 (Apr 30, 2021)

Grandma's needle point


----------



## Aunt Marg (May 1, 2021)

Mellow, I'm posting the image for you, because it's so pretty.


----------



## Aunt Marg (May 1, 2021)

I remember waking in the morning as a young child when staying with grandparents. Single pane glass and nothing in the way of insulation, by morning their house would be frigid to the point of being able to see ones own breathe in the air, but I remember the frost patterns on the glass.

We were never cold though, thanks to grandmas homemade wool quilts that kept us warm and cozy, and once the fire in the old-fashioned cast iron cook stove was roaring, I'd make my way to the kitchen where grandma had something yummy on the go for breakfast.


----------



## mellowyellow (May 1, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Mellow, I'm posting the image for you, because it's so pretty.


Thanks Aunt Marg, yes it's beautiful.


----------



## JaniceM (Jan 25, 2022)

mellowyellow said:


> *Photographer*: *Mary Kelly*
> 
> Image won't load
> https://epod.usra.edu/.a/6a0105371bb32c970b02788016287f200d-600wi
> ...


Do you live in Des Moines, Iowa?


----------



## jujube (Jan 25, 2022)

We kids slept in the three bedrooms up in the (poorly) converted attic.  Not much heat made its way upstairs.

If the wind was blowing, it was twice as cold.  Thick flannel "Mother Hubbard" nightgowns (compliments of our Grandma's sewing machine), a couple of wool blankets, and one of her heavy quilts kept us snug.  Oh, and wool socks and sometimes a stocking cap were worn, too.

The windows were always opaque with frost.

Come summer, it was hotter 'n the hinges of Hell up there.  We couldn't win.....


----------

