First really cold morning of the season

Brrr!  It was 11 below zero, but quickly came up to 10 below about the time we got up this morning (around 7:30).  It had bottomed out at 12 below zero.  By 10am it had warmed up to 6 above.  Now, as I write this around noon, it's up to 28, so still below freezing. 

When we were moving here we looked at a weather chart that showed a couple of months that listed "days below 32" and the number of days in the month.  I didn't fully understand that until we got to January and February of that first winter.  That means a couple of months where, on average, no days go above the freezing mark for the high temperature!  I understand it now.  There's nothing like watching the thermometer to see if it gets above zero, or by how much.  And we have a lot of those in the depths of winter.

One of the things about these really cold mornings is hoar frost.  That was another new experience for me.  I had heard of pogonip - frozen fog - when I was a child in the Reno area.  But we get hoar frost with and without fog.  When it's really cold the moisture in the air freezes into tiny "feathers" that cling to surfaces.  Later in the day, as the sun hits the hoar frost, we get "diamond dust" in the air.  Tiny floating ice crystals that sparkle as they float around and to the ground.

Even after 23 winters, I'm still fascinated by the fleeting beauty of hoar frost and "diamond dust".