How is it that clothes can dry on the clothesline at temperatures well below freezing?

They can dry but they will stil be cold, due to the temperature.

I think as long as there's wind outside?

they can dry but i think they would still be a little damp, or cold?

Drying is caused by the fact that water has a vapor pressure. Drying clothes is the same as leaving a spot of water on the dinner table. The spot of water will dry because the water evaporates. The water evaporates because of the vapor pressure of water. Water in clothes has the same vapor pressure at a particular temperature. Water, as ice, has a vapor pressure, too. Therefore, ice can still evaporate (although slower).

Water can evaporate at any temperature, even as ice, as long as the air is dry. A wind helps increase the rate of evaporation.

Take a look at the ice in your freezer icemaker after a vacation of two weeks or more. The ice cubes start to disappear, unless you keep making new ones

Clothes can dry on a clothesline at temperatures below freezing due to a process called sublimation. Sublimation is when a substance transitions directly from a solid state to a gaseous state, bypassing the liquid phase. In the case of frozen clothes, the ice particles on the fabric can undergo sublimation into water vapor.

Here's how it happens:

1. The frozen clothes are exposed to the surrounding air, even though it is below freezing temperatures. While the air temperature may be cold, it still contains some moisture in the form of water vapor.

2. Sublimation occurs as the frozen clothes absorb the energy from the surrounding air. This energy causes the ice particles in the clothes to directly convert from solid to gas, without passing through the liquid phase.

3. The water vapor then dissipates into the air, as the surrounding atmosphere acts as a sink for the moisture. This process continues until all the ice particles on the clothes have sublimated.

It is important to note that sublimation is a slower process compared to evaporation, which occurs at higher temperatures. Therefore, clothes drying on a clothesline in freezing temperatures may take longer to dry compared to warmer conditions.

To get a precise explanation, you can conduct a simple experiment. Hang wet clothes outside on a clothesline when the temperature is below freezing, and observe the gradual drying process. By monitoring the decrease in moisture over time, you can ascertain that the clothes are indeed drying due to sublimation.