Lucky that the amateur photographer Risto Mattila had his camera with him when he went for a walk with his wife on Marjaniemi Beach a few days ago. There was something really special on the small island of Hailuoto on Finland's west coast this time: hundreds of eggs made of ice, oval and shaped so perfectly, as if they had been freshly laid here by a host of chickens.
Mattila has been living near the sea for years, but he has never seen anything like it, according to a BBC report.
more on the subject
Some of the ice formations would have been the size of a hen's egg, others were almost as big as footballs. How do the strange formations arise?
An explanation provided various weather experts. According to Jouni Vainio of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), certain meteorological conditions have to be met for ice-cream eggs to form. Water and air must have a temperature around the freezing point. According to Mattila, it was about one degree Celsius below zero at the time of recording.
For the eggs to emerge, more conditions are needed: a shallow beach and the right wind. It influences the wave movements, which should not be too strong and not too weak. When a small layer of ice forms around a pebble or a piece of wood that has washed up, it can grow ever larger and evenly due to the gentle movements on the edge of the waves: new layers of water are always freezing.
Check out this post on Instagram
Snow ball sea. Lumipallomeri. 3.11.2019, Hailuoto, Marjaniemi, Finland. #sea #meri #hailuoto #marjaniemi #ylesaa #mtvsaa #yleluonto #uusiluontokuva #ig_finland #igscandinavia #olympussuomi #finland_photolovers #finland_frames #beautiofsuomi #ig_naturelovers #naturephotography #natureperfection #top_world_nature #suomenluonto #thebestoffinland #forecasuomi #pohjoisenluontokuvaajat #thisisfinland
A post shared by Risto Mattila (@rismatti) on Nov 3, 2019 at 10:08 PST
A British weather expert suspects that the balls are formed as fragments of larger layers of ice, which are then ground by the surf and the sand around.
Similar ice phenomena have been observed elsewhere. Two years ago, residents in Russia discovered circular ice balls. They were located near the village of Nyda in northwestern Siberia on the coast. Also on Lake Michigan near Chicago such bullets have been discovered.
But the phenomenon of ice eggs is very rare, say the meteorologists. In addition, the uniform formations disappear quickly. Mattila and his wife were so lucky.