Portable Frost Catcher 001 & 001a
With the arrival of the frost season here in NW Oregon (Nov2007) I tried catching some recent frosts with the existing catchers (see the frost catcher page). It wasn't working too well (frost appeared on the low grass and up on the windshields of the cars, nothing but dew on the catchers) so I tried going to where the frost was with a 'portable' configuration. Initially there was some promising late evening moisture (02Nov2007) but overnight temps rose to 34°F and the morning yielded no frost. A week or two later overnight temps got to below freezing again but most of the catcher elements just had frozen dew on them, not frost. Then over the past few days the conditions have seemed to be right (what exactly those conditions are is still a bit of a mystery to me given that temp, dew point, humidity, etc. has been similar on days with and without frost) and I've gotten some nice morning frosts. The portable configuration is working, the grass and rooftops are heavily frosted, yet the original catchers have very little frost on them. Maybe when they start seeding the fog at the local airport here...

frost catcher - portable 001
the initial portable catcher was a mix of metal types and surfaces and was set up on the windshield (passenger side) of a 1998 Nissan Frontier Pickup

02 Nov 2007 - deployment
frost catcher - portable 001
deployed 02nov2007 09:30pm
Location: N 45° 31' 41" W 122° 54' 15"
Time: 09:30 pm PST

after several days of cold mornings the temperature rose to 34°F
and left the initial deployment sans frost


21 Nov 2007 - result
frost catcher - portable 001
deployed: evening 20nov2007
photo: early morning 21nov2007
even though the conditions seemed right this was mostly frozen dew


frost catcher - portable 001a
the catcher was altered slightly with the addition of a painted jar lid
and a bit of thin steel wire

24 Nov 2007 - deployment
frost catcher - portable 001a
deployed 24nov2007 09:30pm
1998 Nissan Frontier, passenger side windshield
Location: N 45° 31' 41" W 122° 54' 15"
Time: 09:53 pm PST
Temperature: 28°
Barometer: 30.23 in and rising
Humidity: 90%
Visibility: 5 mi
Dewpoint: 26°
Wind: Calm
Clouds: Partly Cloudy


25 Nov 2007 - result
frost catcher - portable 001a
25nov2007 07:00am
Location: N 45° 31' 41" W 122° 54' 15"
Time: 07:05 am PST
Temperature: 25°
Barometer: 30.23 in and steady
Humidity: 83%
Visibility: 2.5 mi
Dewpoint: 21°
Wind: Calm
Clouds: Fog

frost catcher - portable 001a - detail
25nov2007 07:00am
frost catcher - portable 001a - detail
25nov2007 07:00am


26 Nov 2007 - result
augmented with rusted element
frost catcher - portable 001a
26nov2007 07:00am
Location: N 45° 31' 41" W 122° 54' 15"
Time: 07:05 am PST
Temperature: 29°
Barometer: 30.20 in and falling
Humidity: 90%
Visibility: 9 mi
Dewpoint: 27°
Wind: Calm
Clouds: Partly Cloudy

frost catcher - portable 001a - detail
26nov2007 07:00am
frost catcher - portable 001a - detail of rusted surface
26nov2007 07:00am
frost catcher - portable 001a - detail
26nov2007 07:00am

back to the frost catcher page

© jamie
newton