Ephemeral Stained Glass

I like winter storms. I enjoy watching snow fall. I like the ground blanketed in snow. I like the trees covered in ice (although it's not so good for the trees). I enjoy the still quiet of a landscape covered in white as far as one can see.

I don't like having to clean off cars.

Yesterday, after the storm passed on, I went out to do just that, clear the ice/snow/slush off of the cars.

And I was rewarded with colors!

As I brushed off the windows remnants of ice would slide down from above. Here, on the rear hatchback of my Subaru Outback. The ice would leave a thin dissipating film, resulting in an effect I liken to ephemeral stained glass.

In the image above we see the upper colors are disappearing as the film dissipates, while the colors below are still vibrant.

Here's a video showing the colors being created and then disappearing.

The colors were vivid and quite obvious. I'd never noticed this effect before. Perhaps the conditions need to be right for this to occur? And if so, what would those conditions be?

I can only hope for more winter storms to further study this effect.