• Friday-What'sUP March 29 - 06:30 pm

Yesterday I received a flood of forwarded emails about a new ice formation that had been discovered out on Lake Huron near Mackinaw City. I was ready to hop in the car and head east to see this eighth wonder of the world myself, but thought it best to do a little Hoax Hunt. Sure enough - a little bit of truth - a little embellishment - the things legends are made of, urban or otherwise.

According to Hoax-Slayer.com these shots were taken by scientist Tony Travouillon in Antarctica, and are included in Tony's fine gallery of shots from way 'down under'.

So you guys out there traipsing around Lake Huron can come on back inside :o)

I've had a ton of these sent to me too..and Snopes.com said the same thing!

Thanks Charlie!

I had received this also and was hoping someone would clear this up. The things dreams are made of!

We first got these pictures saying they were taken in Antarctica. Then we got them saying they were from Lake Michigan. THEN we got them saying they were from Lake Huron. I really don't see how a wave could freeze solid like that anywhere, especially waves like that with so much "umph" to them. But I guess you never know. Thanks for clearing it up for us.

We got these's same pics in an e-mail yesterday from a friend,a little early for april fools day.

Gee, thanks Charlie. I’ve been walking around this lake all night.

Thanks, Charlie. I was one who sent you these yesterday to find out the truth and you did that leg work for me. It still would have been a good trip from Virginia to Mackinaw just to check it out. Oh well, I shall come another time.

Alex..was that you I ran into out on the lake last night?

Regardless of where these photos were taken..they are awesome looking!

Lake Superior... maybe. Lake Huron... nah.

Thanks for sleuthing the truth, Charlie.

and here I thought I was the only one who sent them to Charlie.

I was going to say Charlie, "since when did we post pics of Antarctica on the Cam Notes page??". I had these sent to me a few days ago and that person wanted clarification as well. They are real photos, but they are not a frozen wave; it is physically impossible in nature to "freeze" a wave like that. Hoax-Slayer.com gives a great explanation of what your looking at and how it really formed....

UP or not those are fabulous pictures of the ice.

It looks like a big fish fillet.

Maybe it would have been more believable if they said Lake Superior... but still, no. Neat pictures though, I like the blue in the ice.

The snow pile in my front yard is almost that high. I
sure wish Spring would arrive and begin "breakup"
season. Then we can have mud and slush, and I can
put away the snowblower. Good grief, it's almost April,
eh?

I'm for the fish fillet, too, obviously some gigantic Blue Fin - Probably Ton-a

Hi
I have seen blue ice on Lake Huron, in front of our cabin near Cheboygan; not that high, obviously. It was off-shore, in an un-safe place to inspect, so I can't say how tall; somewhere around a couple of feet.

On the other hand, on Lakes Michigan and Huron, we do get white ice mounds near shore that can get around 4 or 5 feet tall. These can then get some sand blown on them. I once overheard a small boy asking his dad why they trucked in those big mounds of sand. Appearances can be deceiving, with or without Photoshop.

Musicteacher, I'm with you! Yesterday afternoon, as the snow steadily fell, I put on a Jimmy Buffett CD...at least I could HEAR about warm places...

mount ice elevation ....? sure does make you wonder about them freezing pics " cool pics "

It somehow looks to me like it's been wrapped in a huge piece of Saran Wrap.

Maybe to prevent freezer burn??

I already made a fool of myself forwarding this one around about a week ago, passing on the bad information. When I was corrected by a few of my boatnerd friends, I decided to be a little more careful before sending out something that is a little too good to be true.