【Epoch Times News, November 15, 2025】This week, the first strong cold wave of the season hit the United States, bringing frigid temperatures and snow, along with a somewhat magical sight – frost flowers. These natural “flowers” only appear for a few hours and disappear with a touch.
According to a report by the Associated Press on November 15, frost flowers are made up of thin layers of ice. When frozen water seeps through the crevices of certain plant stems, it creates these intricate patterns. These icy flowers shatter with a gentle touch and only last for a few hours each time they appear.
The National Weather Service in the United States quoted former state climatologist Glen Conner from Kentucky on their website, stating that the formation of frost flowers requires certain conditions – temperatures below freezing, moist but unfrozen soil, and plant stems that have not been damaged by previous freezing.
In fact, frost flowers only appear once a year, but not all plants will produce them on the first suitable day.
The water in the plant stems is absorbed from the soil through capillary action. When water freezes, it expands in volume, causing the stems to crack vertically and immediately freeze upon contact with the air. As more water moves up through the cracks from the soil, a thin ice layer, as thin as paper, is pushed out further from the stem. The length of the crack determines whether the frost flower is narrow or wide.
These thin ice layers unpredictably curl out during the pushing process, forming “petals”. Each flower is unique, delicate, and will only appear until it sublimates or melts.
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The Associated Press reported that frost flowers are most commonly found in the eastern United States, especially in the colder northern regions. For some, it has become a well-known natural phenomenon signaling the approach of winter, attracting people to wake up early to admire them before the sunlight causes them to melt.
On November 10th and 11th, people in Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and other places shared photos of frost flowers on social media. The photos show these unique natural artworks scattered across fields and backyards in the wake of the severe cold.
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Alan Templeton, honorary professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said you have to be in the right place at the right time to see frost flowers.
Templeton, who conducts research in conservation genetics, said he first saw frost flowers decades ago while surveying fieldwork sites in Missouri.
He said, “They are truly beautiful, and each one is unique. No two frost flowers are exactly the same.”
Crystal Legens, who has spent most of her life in Tennessee, mentioned that it wasn’t until her family moved to a more remote rural area of the state three years ago that she discovered frost flowers.
She said, “Some people have lived here their whole lives and have never heard of frost flowers because either they have never seen them or they were not in the right place at the right time.”