Giant snowballs wash up on Russia beach
Are they ice balls, snow boulders or giant snowballs?
Whatever you call them, the naturally forming objects washed up on a beach in northern Siberia last week. They were a surprise to residents in the village of Nyda, who told the BBC that they have never seen anything like them.
"It's as if someone spilled them," local resident Ekaterina Chernykh told the Siberian Times. "They are all of different sizes, from tennis balls to volleyballs."
Others were as big as three feet in diameter.
They're made of slush and "frazil" ice, which occurs when loose, needle-shaped ice crystals collect in the water, according to the Weather Underground.
As waves roll the ice crystals over and over again in the water, their spherical forms take shape.
These snow boulders also been known to wash up on the shores of the Great Lakes during extremely cold weather, the Capital Weather Gang said.