Nature smackdown

We fell asleep last night listening to the pleasant sound of rain on the roof and windows. We woke up this morning to a full half-inch of solid ice covering everything. This made walking out to the car extremely hazardous. It also made getting into the car extremely difficult. I ended up going back inside to empty our emergency water storage bottle and fill it with hot water to dump on the windows to get the ice off. Colby chipped away at the ice like a hero, and uncovered something that looked remarkably like a windshield by the time he was through. It took us a really long time. I felt very small and powerless and drove home about 10 miles per hour after dropping Colby off. Colby thought that if any one was going to throw rocks at our car today would be a good day, as it is covered with an impenetrable shield of ice. The roads are also covered, as is the sidewalk, as is the grass and trees and everything. Also, the back doors of our car are frozen shut.

Here is a picture I found online. It is worse than our ice storm, but you get the idea.

This is ridiculous and I'm never going outside again.

However, the science of freezing rain is actually pretty cool. (Nerd alert). Apparently it starts out as snow, but melts on the way down. Then it supercools in a layer of cold air before it hits the ground (cools below freezing while still remaining a liquid), so that when it hits something, it immediately freezes solid on contact. Chemistry is so cool. I have no idea if this is true or not, because I just found it online, but it provides a satisfactory explanation, so I'm going with it.