Thousands of HUGE ice balls in lake Michigan

reply to post by MadHatter364


I knew this looked familiar? Apparently this had happened on lake michigan before.
Here is another video from 4 years ago showing the same phenomina.

reply to post by mikell


That's exactly what I was wondering, (sand making them look dirty) because with the winds and everything else we have had lately, it seems like it would have churned up parts of the lake pretty good.

Very cool phenomenon though. Wish I lived closer to the lake to go check it out.

Update: I talked to my dad who lives in Michigan near where this happened and he said "it's very usual and we are still watching and waiting for answers here".

proob4
reply to post by MadHatter364

 

I knew this looked familiar? Apparently this had happened on lake michigan before.
Here is another video from 4 years ago showing the same phenomina.

And last year in March. In the link you can see the layering effect at the shore's edge, 50lbs eh!

chicagoist.com...

The dirt is probably just the lake bed being stirred up.

Quite the sight to see.

smurfy

proob4
reply to post by MadHatter364

 

I knew this looked familiar? Apparently this had happened on lake michigan before.
Here is another video from 4 years ago showing the same phenomina.

And last year in March. In the link you can see the layering effect at the shore's edge, 50lbs eh!

chicagoist.com...

edit on 10-1-2014 by smurfy because: Text.

Yep you're correct. I do remember this last year as well.
Thanks. I truly think they are giant hail, something that only happens in the middle of huge lakes cause of all the water. Also I think a read something about giant waterspouts, not so where from though maybe lake michigan? Could it be that the waterspouts suck up sand and water into the air and when it very cold they form these iceballs?

Wow, that is neat. I grew up on the southern tip of Lake Michigan, and I have NEVER SEEN that. Thank you op.

The weather the last week has been...well, Typical Indiana weather.

As they say, "If you don't like the weather in Indiana, wait a minute it will change.........

Don't really like the -30 below....

Summer will be here soon....thankfully.....

Driving on ice for 40 miles is not fun.....

Interesting phenomena. I go by Lake Michigan often enough, and have seen it ice over on occasion but not ice balls. I guess it only occurs on the downwind side. Since I'm on the western shore, that makes it unlikely with the typical prevailing winds.

reply to post by MadHatter364


The link is not working - something about a copyright issue with the YouTube video. Do you have any other video that might show this phenomenon?? Would be interesting to see. I lived in Petoskey area for most of my life and never heard of such a thing and the lake is right there.



Update to add - hadn't read all posts. Now I see the newest video uploaded. Cool!! I had never seen such a thing. I have seen water spray frozen from the waves that come in in the winter. When the freeze in the wind and make interesting patterns on say breakwalls, that is neat also.

rickymouse
Those are some dirty ice balls. I never see ice like that in Lake superior. Maybe if they haul those ice balls away it will clean up the water a little there. They are probably pure pollution.....it almost looks like there is some oil mixed in them.

As a Chicagoan, we always felt Lake Michigan and the Chain O' Lakes would be cleaner if they weren't full of Bret Favre's tears. But seriously, it is kinda a bummer to have all of your lake waters as basically drainage basis from those north of you! It would be interesting to know comparisons between the lakes. It's Superior cleaner looking because it's colder, less industry, etc? What are the mechanisms of each of the great lakes? And so, to the internets I go!

Its normal. It doesn't happen often but it nothing weird or out of the ordinary or have anything to do with global warming or human influence on the lake, nor did angels from heaven make it happen or aliens. It isn't the trumpet of doom to sound the collapse of America and its not the coming of the anti-Christ. It is not a terrorist attack. It doesn't mean the next comet that passes will be an alien spaceship or is going to hit earth.

Did I miss anything? The internet is a wealth of information on things like this. Get hooked on reading and research.

dogstar23

rickymouse
Those are some dirty ice balls. I never see ice like that in Lake superior. Maybe if they haul those ice balls away it will clean up the water a little there. They are probably pure pollution.....it almost looks like there is some oil mixed in them.

As a Chicagoan, we always felt Lake Michigan and the Chain O' Lakes would be cleaner if they weren't full of Bret Favre's tears. But seriously, it is kinda a bummer to have all of your lake waters as basically drainage basis from those north of you! It would be interesting to know comparisons between the lakes. It's Superior cleaner looking because it's colder, less industry, etc? What are the mechanisms of each of the great lakes? And so, to the internets I go!

I think Superior is cleaner looking because it is colder. Superior cannot support a real lot of fish because there isn't as much vegetation in it to feed the small fish. I learned that from someone working for a Native American guy who was part of the enforcement of their organization that looked after their commercial fishermen in the area. I guess Lake Michigan can grow more fish than Superior at this time. In the future though, as Superior warms a bit, it will be a good source of fish. That is as long as we don't mess it up.

I'm glad that they have the Fish and Wildlife service and the EPA to watch these lakes. If they didn't, they would be sewer and chemical refining lagoons. We cannot self regulate ourselves on these things. It is bad now because of the amount of chemicals we use in our daily life. We should get away from using these plastics and chemicals that are extremely bad for the ecosystem.

Betting it's the wind. Freezes a patch of ice, and then rotates it, so that the 'top' is now the 'bottom.' The wet exposed part freezes, then flips in the wind. Repeat until iceball. Just my first impression. Sort of like a snowball rolling downhill, only way slower, and in a lake.

reply to post by rickymouse


Not that it's specifically discussed at the below link in terms of the opacity of the water, but this page has some pretty cool data on the great lakes, various measurements charted of different lake contents (from organics to chemicals) My in-laws are Yoopers, so I spend about as much time swimming and fishing in Superior as in Lake Michigan. I eat fish from Superior, toss back from Lake MI. Though admittedly, most of my experience with my local lake is right on the Chicago coast, which I know isn't always as purty as the center portion.

Great Lakes Comparisons

reply to post by MadHatter364

reply to post by dogstar23


Lake eerie levels are way off tilt from the rest of the lakes. The chloride levels are low in Superior, there isn't much exposed salt in Lake superior, it is trapped under a calcium containing plate under the lake.

The fish seem to hang around the shores, probably because salt and iodine concentrations are higher. They are just like us, they need plain old chloride and iodine.

That is a very good link, I have been looking around for links on Lake Superior water minerals. I see lots of silica in Lake superior....I wonder why. I bet that the fish would be a good source of silica. Keep the heart healthy.

Might be the St Joe lighthouse lots of pictures of it out there. Happens a lot in the winter. Go to Google images and look up St Joseph MI lighthouse winter. today is the first sun in a few weeks so it might look like that today

reply to post by reject