Ice Boulders on the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Last weekend, Leelanau resident Leda Olmsted came across a rare phenomenon on the Lake Michigan shore at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. From a feature in the Grand Rapids Press:

Sleeping Bear Park Ranger Amie Lipscomb said no weird weather is required to create the ice boulders. The rounded ice forms the same way the rounded and smooth stones that wash up on the beach form. Chunks of ice break off from the large sheets that form over Lake Michigan. Waves tumble and pummel the ice, rounding and smoothing edges, Lipscomb said. The waves then wash the boulders up on shore.

Recent high winds have whipped up strong waves along Lake Michigan.

“Along the shoreline, lots of different ice formations form because of the waves crashing along the beach,” Lipscomb said.

Leda also appeared on the Weather Channel!