Home / Editor's Pick /

Washing can dry even when it's freezing

13:00
23 January 2022

Winter laundry tip
Washing can dry even when it's freezing

clothesline

While many of us wait for a warm, sunny day to hang laundry, did you know that you can actually dry your washing when it is freezing outside?

If you want to do something good for yourself and the environment, you can make use of a special property of water to dry your laundry in winter. Even when it's freezing cold!

The prerequisite for this is that it is frosty outside and the air is relatively dry. Once the laundry is frozen, the water skips an aggregate state - namely the liquid state.

This effect is called sublimation. The frozen water evaporates directly. The conditions for this are particularly good when, in addition to temperatures below zero, the sun is shining. A combination we have seen regularly across the UK and Ireland recently.

In ideal conditions, the laundry dries in a day in the frosty air. For this, the sun should be shining and a light wind blowing.

But this is not a must, because very cold air often also brings low humidity. Therefore, it can absorb the moisture of the laundry very well. Another advantage of this is that the laundry smells particularly fresh, ideally it even smells like winter clear air.

The effect of sublimation can also be observed with snow. If it snows at first and then the weather turns dry and cold, the snow cover will become smaller and smaller over time, despite the constant frost, because the white snow simply dissolves into thin air.

More on the topic
Radar map showing widespread blue rain bands over the UK and Ireland with a triangular heavy-rain warning icon placed over central Britain.
Tuesday, 16 December 2025

Thursday rain

Incoming downpour prompts warnings
People walk through muddy streets after heavy rain, alongside a rain map of Morocco.
Tuesday, 16 December 2025

New rainfall in sight

Fatalities in Moroccan floods
Split image showing a night-time UK rain radar map with blue precipitation bands, city temperature markers, and a rain cloud icon on the left, and a star-filled night sky with the Milky Way and a silhouetted telescope on the right, divided by a curved white line.
Sunday, 21 December 2025

Ursid meteor shower

Wish upon a Christmas star
All weather news
This might also interest you
Split weather map showing UK wind speeds in orange-red shades up to 40 mph on the left and warning levels in green-yellow on the right, with a central wind warning sign.
Wednesday, 22 October 2025

Warnings active

Storm Benjamin impacts the UK
Mammatus clouds
Thursday, 21 August 2025

Unusual view

Mammatus clouds over Ireland
Split weather map showing the UK and Ireland. The left side illustrates strong winds circulating around a low-pressure system, with gusts of 20–30 mph highlighted in orange and yellow. The right side shows radar imagery with widespread blue rain bands and patches of thunderstorms, especially over northern England and Scotland.
Thursday, 28 August 2025

Breakfast brief

Remaining widely unsettled
All articles
Weather & Radar

Weather & Radar is also available on

Google Play StoreApp Store

Company

Contact us Privacy Policy Legal info Accessibility statement

Services

Uploader

Socials

facebooktwittertikToklinkList