Pogonip, again

16 degrees, heavy fog. The fog freezes, coating every thing with a hard, fuzzy crust.
Weird.

Supposed to be dangerous to breathe because of the damage that the airborne ice crystals can do to your lungs when inhaled, pogonips are pretty damned dangerous for other reasons. First off, getting to your car is an adventure. My hip aches a little where my Kimber Stainless Classic did a poor job of cushioning the iced pavement from my somewhat better-padded person. It took me 10 minutes to get the crystalline grey cobwebs off of my patrol car this morning. The light bar was unrecognizable. I had to bash the door several times to break the strangely organic-looking rime that sealed the driver's door shut. Visibility is a bitch, and people seem incapable of realizing that headlights are a MUST in heavy fog. You, in the grey Buick! You, sir or madam, should be horsewhipped for this morning's driving at 50 mph in 20 mph visibility, with no headlights on at 7:00 AM! It ain't the breathing that's the most dangerous part of a freezing fog.

Overtaking an unlighted car in the frozen soup makes for for hurried braking, on roads that can only be described as, um, interesting. There seems to be little rhyme or reason to explain what surfaces a pogonip will adhere to. The old standard of "elevated structures freeze first" doesn't necessarily follow.

This one lasted a long time. Odd spectacle.