Imagine waking up to find jagged piles of ice creeping up to your doorstep or blocking nearby roads—that’s what some folks living near the Great Lakes could face through Monday night. A fascinating but rare natural phenomenon called an “ice shove” might make an appearance, thanks to fierce winds and freezing conditions.
Ice shoves, sometimes called “ice tsunamis” or “ice seiches,” happen when strong winds push large chunks of ice onto shorelines. These icy mounds can cause serious damage, smashing into homes, closing streets, and creating hazardous conditions.
According to meteorologist Brandon Buckingham, the powerful winds blowing west to southwest over the Great Lakes could shift lake ice, piling it up along eastern shores. This isn’t just about the wind, though—if parts of a lake are ice-free, the winds can create seiches, which are like mini tidal waves, adding even more force to the ice shoves.
This isn’t the first time such an icy spectacle has caused trouble. Back in February 2019, huge ice piles covered the Lake Erie shoreline in Hoover Beach, New York, even closing the Niagara River Parkway and threatening nearby homes. Similarly, in 2021, Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay
