Snow and Ice

     Several inches of wet snow often fall on Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Limbs and twigs of coniferous and deciduous trees and shrubs get beautifully covered by snow.  And sullen, gray skies, or sunny ones, and snow-covered ground and trees create pretty scenery in gray woods, or suburbs with their green conifers, and beige fields.
     The next day rain might fall, covering every twig of every tree and shrub with a coating of transparent ice.  And ice would be on clumps of snow still plastered to tree limbs.  Those branches get weighed down by the snow and ice on them, some of them to the point of breaking off and falling to the snow-covered ground.  White pine trees are particularly vulnerable to damage from strong wind and the weight of ice and snow. 
     Ice and snow on tree limbs, the ground, red or orange berries and everything else is hard on some kinds of wildlife that can't get to their food sources until that ice and snow melts.  Those species must look for food elsewhere or do without until the ice and snow melts away.
     On rainy days after a snowfall, everything is sheathed in silvery, transparent ice, and translucent, dripping  icicles, creating an uncommon beauty on the landscape.  But it is a fleeting beauty, a kind that we should get out to experience as soon as possible before it is gone in the sunlight and warmth. 
     Fortunately for the trees and bushes, and wildlife, snow and ice melt when temperatures warm and drip, relieving the tree and bush branches of some of the weight on them, allowing them to lift themselves to normal levels above the ground.  An occasional light wind that moves the limbs knocks some of the ice and snow off them, further taking the burden off them.  And as the ice melts away, so does the silvery look of twigs and needles.
     During clear, winter days, low-slanting sunlight enhances the colors of green coniferous tree needles, the gray or brown bark of deciduous trees, the brightly colored berries and the beige of weeds and tall grasses.  Snow outlining each branch and twig on the stately trees make them picturesque before the deep, blue sky.  And ice and icicles on all those natural features sparkle like innumerable diamonds.      
     Sunsets at the ends of sunny, winter days are brilliant and beautiful.  The striking shapes of trees are silhouetted black before those sunsets.  Sometimes one sees the black V's of a group of Canada geese flying before the sunset.  And as the sunset gradually fades, one can see the moon, Venus and stars coming into view in the sky.  Still later, the moon's reflected light on snow on the ground makes the landscape almost as bright as day, but without the colors.  Sometimes at night, white-tailed deer can be seen on the snow cover.  
     Or on overcast nights, the light of outdoor lights bounces off the clouds and the snow on the ground, again making the landscape almost as bright as day.  Again, we can see geese in the sky or deer and rabbits in the snow on the ground. 
     Though snow and ice are dangerous, they still are a part of winter's beauties.  These have been some of the beauties created by them during winter in Lancaster County, as elsewhere.