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A strange phenomenon : Balls of ice on the beach

A strange phenomenon : Balls of ice on the beach. There is no meteorological term for this natural phenomenon which happens when large amounts of snow fall around large lakes or oceans . With the movement of the waves , the snow becomes ice and is transformed into “ice- balls ”.

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A strange phenomenon : Balls of ice on the beach

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  1. A strangephenomenon : Balls of ice onthebeach

  2. Thereis no meteorologicaltermforthis natural phenomenonwhichhappenswhenlargeamounts of snowfallaroundlargelakesoroceans. Withthemovement of thewaves, thesnowbecomes ice and istransformedinto “ice-balls”

  3. Hundreds and thousands of ice-ballswith a centre of snow, the size of a football gatheralong the beaches to givethiswonderful spectacle. This happenswhen the water temperatureisat 0°. Its a phenomenonknown as "Lolly " by the fishermen of the Cap Breton island of Nova Scotia.

  4. AccordingtotheSwedishmeteorologicalagancy, SMHI, thisrarephenomenonwhenthesoftsnowaccumulates and isrolledover and overbythewindonthebeaches. Itsthesameprocessus as whentheerosion of stonedtransformsthemintopebbles.

  5. Ice-balls on Lake Michigan, USA.

  6. Snow rolls

  7. Thisothermeteorologicalphenomenonwhichformsrolls of snow, alsocalled’snowrollers’, isalso quite rare.

  8. Thishappenswhenthewindwindslayers of snow, oneon top of theother. Duetothecombinedtemperature, humidity, speed of thewind and theslope of theground, rolls are formed

  9. A surface of ice orgroundcovered in snowenablestherollstoform. Ifthesurfaceismade of ice, this ice mustalsobecoveredby a layer of “loosesnow” of about 2cm and a temperatureveryneartheice’smeltingpoint.

  10. Air temperaturemustbeconstantbetween 0° and 1° • - Thewindmustbestrongenoughtomobetherolls of snow, butnottoostrong, so thatitbreaksthem up so itmustblow at approximately40 Km/h.

  11. A gust of wind lifts somesnow, like a spoonwouldwithsomeicedcream. Repetition of thesegusts of windenables the « roll » to move forward and to collect more snoweach time.

  12. Thesize of therolls can be of severalcentimeters. Somehaveevenbeenseen up to 70cm.

  13. When the « roll » istooheavy to bemoved by the wind or if itcomesupon an obstacle, it stops, leavingbehindit the imprint of itsjourney.

  14. There isoften a hole, in the very centre, because the layers are thinnerthanthose on the outside and sotheymelteasilyleaving a shapelike a « Doughnut ».

  15. Thesesnowballscanalsobeformed by the action of gravityitself; likewhensnowfallsfrom a tree or a cliff and lands on a slope, itcanstartrolling and form a ball. In thisway « rolls » canform in hilly areas.

  16. Translated by Karen Burns TheEnd

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