Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Frost Boils

Ever since my incident last Saturday night where I was rescued by a knight in a shining black 4x4 pickup, I've been thinking more about frost boils. Frost boils.  Think of each word separately and then cringe.  I've suffered from frost bite and a boil on separate occassions.  Neither one was any fun.  The frost comes because these frost boils occur as the frost leaves the earth.  And they're called boils because they are round and bowl like in shape - much like a boil.  I googled frost boils.  Typical frost boils occur on the tundra.  An upwelling of mud scars the surface of the earth and moves the vegetation.  Contrary to popular belief, Minnesota is not the tundra and we do not have permafrost.  Minnesota frost boils occur on poorly drained roads when moisture from a wet fall is released in the spring.  Frost boils can occur in groups and make a road impassable for several weeks.  The only solution is time and warm weather.  Adding gravel or trying to grade the road is not  good solution.  The best way I can describe a frost boil is if that road was a cake, you would have put it back into the oven.

2 comments:

Cajo said...

Frost boils is also an oxymoron. Frost does not boil.

Sue said...

true, wish I had thought of that. Like an ice burn or scalding ice.

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