Hi all. My name is Mike, and I live in Sandy, Oregon; the great Pacific Northwest! As some may be aware, our weather can change rapidly and dramatically. As it just has, our temperature just dropped from 40s to 20s and colder with lots of freezing rain and snow seemingly overnight. With this recent weather event, I found something of interest in my backyard. Please follow the link below to see the many photos I took of this phenomenon. I'm trying to figure out what might have caused this. It formed in an area where I had attempted to dig a hole, but found that the ground had too much clay in its composition, and so abandoned the plan. I only dug about 3 or 4 inches into the ground. I'm guessing that some sort of gas was escaping from the ground which explains the many air bubbles in these vertically frozen ice needles. Any suggestions or ideas are welcome!
https://plus.google.com/115567272894520552544/posts/9JE4UNqYkvy
P.S. I have deducted on my own that it can't be an organic compound decomposing because the temperature would of course slow that process down to all but a screeching halt. Keep in mind that the outdoor ambient temperature is in the 20s, teens and colder, and in the Pacific Northwest there is MUCH humidity in the air. I'm very curious to hear your thoughts!
