First hoarfrost this year reported in Loei’s Phu Kradueng
Hoarfrost covers grass and fern leaves as temperature falls to about 8.5 degrees
Phu Kradueng National Park in Loei province reported hoarfrost on Sunday morning, the first such phenomenon in the park this winter.
Adisorn Hemthanon, chief of the park, said mae kaning (hoarfrost) was seen covering grass and fern leaves at Anodard Pond in the morning as the temperature fell to about 8.5 degrees Celsius.
The hoarfrost appeared just a day before the park was to be reopened to tourists. It was closed nine days ago after a female tourist was attacked and killed by a wild elephant.
Hoarfrost forms through a process called deposition, where water vapour in the air directly transforms into ice crystals without passing through the liquid phase. This happens when the air temperature is below freezing and the surface temperature is even colder. The water vapour in the air comes into contact with the cold surface, loses its heat, and directly freezes into tiny ice crystals.
Adisorn said park officials patrolled on Sunday morning but did not detect any trace of wild elephants along tourist trails. Instead, they spotted the hoarfrost at the pond.
The Loei weather forecast office reported that temperatures dropped to 8.5C on the Phu Kradueng mountaintop, 8C on Phu Rua mountaintop, and 7C on Phu Luang mountaintop.
The temperature in lowland districts of Loei also dropped to 10-13C on Sunday morning. For example, the temperature was measured at 11C in Muang district, 10C in Dan Sai and 13C in Erawan district.
