'Rounded pancake shapes': Another unique ice formation spotted on Manitoba waters

WINNIPEG -

From ice balls to now ice pancakes, water in Manitoba is showing the unique shapes it can make.

Ice pancakes have been spotted at Winnipeg Beach and at York Landing.

Pancake ice found at Ripple Falls in York Landing. (Source: Johnny Beardy)

Greg McCullough, a geographer at the University of Manitoba, said the formations are created when ice crystals start gatherings in little groups on the water's surface in slightly wavy conditions.

"They'll tend to grow outwards in roughly a circle, and then gradually the ice will form up and these groups will be jostling around together. So they will rock around and they will knock any rough edges off and you end up with a whole lot of fairly rounded pancake shapes," said McCullough.

He added with the waves, the ice doesn't get the opportunity to stick together and form one big sheet and that will only happen as the water calms.

McCullough said these formations are neither rare nor common and that if people search for them, they will find them eventually, adding the right conditions are needed to make the shapes.

Ice balls have also been found in the province on Lake Manitoba.

A photo taken on Nov. 21, 2021, shows a weather phenomenon that left Lake Manitoba near Steep Rock covered in balls of ice. (Submitted: Carly Price)

Experts says snowflakes freezing on top of the water, mixed with waves or wind can cause everything to turn and create snowball shapes.

- With files from CTV's Danton Unger.