The start of the new year cannot get better than this!!!
Erik Solheim, a former Norweigian diplomat left netizens in awe as he shared a breath-taking photograph of “ice flowers” on Songhua River in northeast China.
As the very first sunbeams struck the surface of the waterbody, the rays reflected on the translucent flowers, displaying the defined outline of flower with petals.
Ice flowers, also known as ‘ice blossoms’, ‘frost castles’, ‘frost beard’, ‘ice castles’, or ‘ice ribbons’ that are predominantly found on shrubs are dependent heavily on weather conditions for their formation and the best time for its formation is during the morning of late autumn or early winter when the temperature plunges below the freezing point, but the ground temperature does not dip as much, giving adequate time for formation of ice flower.
Songhua River where the ice flowers formed, is the largest tributary of Amur River and flows through the city of Harbin that will be celebrating the Songhua River Ice and Snow Carnival from 5th January 2023. Harbin, which is in Northeast China, is a known as the “Ice City” and hosts the world’s biggest ice and snow festival. This is also the longest festival in the world that continues for two months. Also, an interesting fact is all the ice for the festival is cut from the Songhua River.
With the pictures of “ice flowers” on Songhua River that got internet into a frenzy, one shouldn’t be surprised of the vistas this place would have to offer during late autumn or early winter when one can experience the wonderful creations of nature.
Nature is so vast and every creation so distinctive; the “ice flowers” are an apt example of its uniqueness.
Isn’t it?
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