Nature sculpts 'ethereal' 3-metre-high icescapes on Lake Winnipeg shores

Crystalline three-metre-tall ice formations are drawing crowds of visitors to the shores of Lake Winnipeg this January.

Winnipeg Beach Mayor TonyPimentelsaid in the 30 years he's lived in the Manitobacommunity, he has never seenshores so chock full of impressive ice formations in January.

"We've had a lot more people come out and look atthese things,"Pimentelsaid.

Following arecord-breaking warm November in southern Manitoba,Pimentelsaidice on Lake Winnipeg finallybegan to freeze in December.

The first week of December saw two days of strong northeast winds batter the chilly water up against the sand. As the water lapped up on shore and froze, it turned into slush.It beganpiling up and solidified as the month continued.

Unseasonably warm weather swept through again last week and polishedwhat were jagged ice ridges into glassy, picturesque boulders.

'Unusual sight'

"These have generated a bit of attention," environmental engineer and photographer Roger Rempel said.

"Especially in black and white, there's very little that you could shoot that would be more dramatic than that stuff."

Rempel lives in Winnipegbut decided to make a day trip70 kilometres north toWinnipeg Beach Sunday after hearing about the ice formations in the beachfrontcommunity.

He wasn't the only one.

"There were a lot of other people walking around, a lot of photographers, a lot of children and their parents walking around exploring the ice,"Rempelsaid. "It's pretty cool stuff to walk around, kids climbing on it. It's an unusual sight."

He and his wife own a cottage on the east shore of Lake Winnipeg. He's used to seeing three-metre-tall ice walls pushed up against shorelines on his side of the lake in the spring, but never in the middle of winter.

Rempelhaslived in Manitoba his entire life and can't remember a January as warm as this one.

"The conditions [Sunday] added to the mystique of it," saidRempel, who is also the director of climate risk decision support for Ottawa-based scienceconsultancyRisk Sciences International.

"There was a very ethereal feel to the place."

• Fog cloaks central and southern Manitoba, inspiring eerie images

Temperatures hit1.2 C Sunday in Gimli, just north of Winnipeg Beach, and a fog advisory was issued. An average monthly high of 12 C and overnight lows of 22 C are normal for the area in January, CBC Manitoba meteorologist John Sauder said.

"It's a veryunique combination of weather conditions and timing," saidSauder, adding at least three millimetres of rain fell in southern Manitoba over Friday night.

As rain fell during awarm spell last week, the water melted and smoothed ridged boulders ofice into drooping frozen waves, "mushroom clouds" and a range of other shapes,Rempel said.

The mayor said the icy walls are still there and he invites people from out of town to visit.

But for kids (or playful adults) whose first instinct is to run and jump across the ice, Sauder warned there could be open water near shore and thin ice that could pose a safety risk.