penitentes

Penitentes, or nieves penitentes (Spanish for "penitente-shaped snows"), are a snow formation found at high altitudes. They take the form of tall thin blades of hardened snow, or ice, closely spaced with the blades oriented towards the general direction of the sun. Penitentes can be as tall as a person.

For more information about penitentes check the Wikipedia article here

ZME Science posts about penitentes

8 totally awesome natural phenomena you probably didn’t know about

Fri, Aug 7, 2009

130 Comments

The Maelstrom When you hear a name like maelstrom, you just know it’s about something wicked. Introduced in English by Edgar Allan Poe from the Nordic languages, from which it came from the Dutch word maelstrom (maalstroom in modern spelling), it literally means crushing current, which is quite a very good description. A maelstom is [...]

fire rainbow, ice circle, ice ring, icespout, maelstrom, moon rainbow, penitentes, rainbow, waterspout

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