This Seems To Be A Great Winter For Really Cool Ice Disks

The huge, now famous ice disk in Westbrook, Maine. 

There's a cool phenomenon that sometimes happens in rivers and other waterways during the winter called "ice disks."

They've been in the news lately, too. There's been a huge one on the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine.

This Maine ice disk might be the largest on record. In Michigan, another ice disc formed this week. There are a few reports of these every winter, but the Maine disk is, compared to most of the others, enormous.

I'll let EarthSky explain ice disks:

"It's actually a rather well-known natural phenomenon, usually found in spots where there is a circular current in a river or stream that creates a whirlpool effect. Random eddies in water tend to follow a circular route In winter, ice crystals in this slower-moving water can gradually coalesce to form a circular 'mat' of ice.

The current keeps the ice disk in place as it slowly rotates. As the disc turns, it bumps up against the shoreline or other chunks ofice and is essentially lathed down, until it is round. The result is an ice disk that can be surprisingly circular and smooth-edged."

Honestly, I think ice disks are the coolest, wildest thing winter weather has to offer. Video is at the bottom of this post to give you just a clue as to how neat they are.

The ice disc in Maine became something of an international celebrity this month. News outlets from as far away as Great Britain have done features on it. The Westbrook disc is probably one of the most spectacular examples of an ice disc in anyone's memory. It's about 300 feet wide, which is huge compared to most such disks.

The Westbrook ice disk was remarkably durable, surviving a deep freeze that would have stalled it. But a paddleboarder went out and freed it, so the disk started spinning again.  It also kept spinning through a heavy snowstorm. 

The ice disk even got its own web cam.

But there's always an idiot that comes out of the woodwork to ruin the party.

What was or is thought to be the apparent end to the Maine ice disk came Thursday when some moron went out on it to carve a peace sign into it, according to the Bangor Daily News. 

The idiot, Christopher Angulo from New Jersey, said "I'm making a giant peace sing out of this... And I want it to spin around so bad and create that visual for the world to see, of peace making the world go 'round right here in Westbrook."

So much for that idea.

The ice disk is still there, but at last check was not spinning and is definitely scarred by Angulo's antics.

Meanwhile, another, smaller  ice disk formed 200 miles north in Baxter State Park in Maine. Another disk has starting to get attention in Michigan. A spinning ice disk appeared earlier this week on the Cedar River in Gladwin, Michigan.

Ice disks are pretty rare, but there is a history of them in Vermont, too. Several years ago, an ice disk drew plenty of attention in central Vermont.

Here's a time lapse of the now-famous Maine ice disk. Judging by the number of people visible in this clip on a nearby parking garage roof, this really did turn into a big tourist attraction: