A rare and natural phenomenon: What are ice pancakes?

When the right combination of conditions are present, a rare and natural phenomenon called pancake ice is formed.

If there’s some good to come from a winter that’s been pretty relentless, it may just be this exquisite sight to behold.

A rare but magnificent, natural phenomenon has made its way to our region with special thanks to the extreme cold and wind.

At the Trent Severn Waterways in Port Severn, hundreds of flat, circular pieces of ice dubbed ice pancakes, are floating on top of the water.

Roni Carli, owner of the Port Severn General Store, got to view the beauty from right outside her store.

“We have the locks with the rushing water coming through the dams and then we have this still water and these beautiful formations that create,” said Carli said.

Carli said these round discs made up of snow and ice can range in colour from a snowy white to an icy-blue.

How ice pancakes are formed

Two things need to happen to make conditions ripe for ice pancakes: cold and wind – weather patterns we’ve certainly been getting a lot of this winter.

According to the Senior Ice Forecaster at the Canadian Ice Service George Karaganis, these frozen chunks of ice, often resembling frozen pancakes or lily pads, form as frazil ice, which is made up of small, needle-like ice crystals.

These ice crystals form in water that’s below the freezing mark with an air temperature of minus 10 or colder.

The frazil ice clumps together, transforming into grease ice. From there, waves and currents cause the grease ice to also clump together and rotate.

“Splashing water or slush freezes onto the rims which builds up raised borders,” Karaganis explained.

The reason the water stays in its liquid form is due to turbulence from the wind.

These lumps of ice get their circular shape from the spinning around through the wind and edges will wear down evenly with any excess pieces breaking off.

The ice pancakes can range in size from between 30 centimetres to three metres in diameter.

Karaganis says to think of the ice pancakes as an in-the-middle or transitional phase in between a lake not yet frozen to a lake completely frozen.

When and where you can see ice pancakes

The phenomenon is most common on large bodies of water since there is more wave and wind action in those areas.

The time of year you’ll most likely encounter them is from later December to March, with peak times during the coldest part of the winter.

Because various environmental factors and weather patterns need to coincide for the phenomenon to occur, ice pancakes are both rare and special.

For example, if conditions are calm with no wind, then it’s your standard flat ice. On the other hand, if the weather is too cold, the lake will freeze over too quickly.

Safety

One of the customers in Carli’s store told CTV News she saw a beaver on the waterway one morning who was jumping back and forth between the ice pancakes.

While it might be okay for animals, humans should view the beauty from afar.

Karaganis wants to remind the public ice pancakes are unstable and dangerous and walking on it should not be attempted.

“Now, today is a little milder so they’re dissipating. But by the weekend, they’ll all be formed again,” Carli said.

The frigid weather and high winds we’re getting over the next 24 hours could make for the perfect recipe to form even more ice pancakes.