WATCH: Lake Michigan Waves Birth Giant Ice Balls

Published January 09, 2014

| AccuWeather

Visitors to the shores of Lake Michigan were greeted by an interesting sight this week, as waves lapped against hundreds of massive ice balls.

The balls, or boulders, as some have called them, are formed when water from the lake begins to freeze and is pushed ashore by wave action, according to Meteorologist Jim Andrews.

As the waves lap the shore, the ice is tumbled, smoothed and frozen into a round shape.


While the process does require specific conditions, it's definitely not an abnormal event, he said.