One of the most unique weather phenomena took place this week in Essex County, New Jersey. On Monday night, a storm rolled through the area bringing wintry mix precipitation that eventually turned into freezing rain. By noon on Tuesday, everything was coated in several millimeters of ice. What really made things interesting was that a cold front followed this storm, bringing sub-freezing temperatures that lasted over three days and preserving the ice on the trees and bushes.

Something that is truly peculiar is that by traveling only a few miles away from Montclair, there was no ice on trees. After realizing this and fighting bronchitis all week, and seeing the temperatures rising in the forecast for the weekend, I knew I had to take advantage of this rare weather on Friday. With clear skies at sunrise and the sun in position near lower Manhattan this time of year, I posted up at one of my go-to sunrise locations in Montclair and waited. The show that was about to be put on was nothing short of magical!

I first photographed the sunrise from the parking lot at school, which sits just above the building and provides a great view point of the Manhattan skyline. The banner image above was the result of shooting from this location. The glow on the tree tops and the sparkling ice among the branches was the epitome of a winter wonderland, without the snow and hazardous roads!

After shooting sunrise, I drove up to Eagle Rock Reservation. This reservation has an overlook that is significantly higher in elevation than the viewpoints at school. Once I arrived, my goal was to get a wider view of this icy wonderland with the city as the background and not as much of a focal point (NYC LI and NYC LII).

I’ve shot the New York skyline from Essex County so many times over the past 6 years, and while no two sunrises are ever the same, I didn’t feel quite the same excitement for “sunrise season” this year as I had in recent years. Maybe it was the similarity of scenes, but I wasn’t as motivated as I usually was in years past. Now, this didn’t stop me from shooting several stunning sunrises this year, (NYC XXXXVII, NYC XXXXVIII, and NYC XLIX), but this ice event certainly reinvigorated the landscape and scene for me. I have never seen anything like this, and don’t think I’ll ever see it again.

Happy new year to all!