If you can help to enlighten me, please, PLEASE explain it in rudimentary terms, so I'll not misunderstand.
This is what has occurred since about 10 PM last night.
The outdoor thermometer registered 27 degrees. As I understand it, it means BELOW the freezing mark, hence water freezes BEFORE reaching that temperature. (Water is supposed to freeze at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, I think, right?) Wellllllllllllllllll, at 10 last night, my daughter brought to my attention that it was drizzling outside AND the thermometer read 27 degrees. Now, we also noticed that the barbeque grill had an icy glaze complete with icicles. So, does that mean that water only freezes at 32 degrees F ONLY when it is dropping on a surface that is 32 degrees or below?
So then, today we've watched the outdoor thermometer and the precipitation. (We must have received some snow before we woke this morning because we saw patches of it on the kids swing set slide and elsewhere before we saw the rain or watery precipitation start back up.) There were icicles hanging off the eves, and other surfaces, patches of ice on the patio, trees, shrubbery, etc. The temperature has NOT raised above the 30-31 degree mark all day. The precipitation has ceased. And yet . . . we have water continuing to drip from the roof . I'm not sure about it dripping off other surfaces, since I'm staying inside close to the fireplace.
I don't know if you can actually see the water dripping off the roofline.
Maybe you'll have to look really closely.
So if any meteorologists, physicists, or thermodynamicists are out there willing to enlighten me, please, (again) do so now and help me avoid further consternation. I need to know. Have to know. *Sigh*
And additionally, if anyone has light to shed on the subject . . . does cold weather make YOU crave chocolate? If you feel you can only weigh in on one topic of discussion, best make it this chocolate one. Heaven knows it's the one that will count most in the end. I think. ;-}
