Readers of “Strange Michigan” may remember the story of an unusual water feature known as an ice disk, ice wheel or ice circle. These winter phenomena appear as a perfectly round, piece of ice cut from a larger sheet of ice on a river that spins independently of the ice surrounding it. The Michigan Ice Disk I described in “Strange Michigan” was found Nov. 30, 2007 on the Hemlock River near Crystal Falls and measured 55 feet in diameter. Another ice disk was found in Michigan in the Pine River near Vestaburg in early January 2017. It was featured on Good Morning America and in many local media including Mount Pleasant’s Morning Sun: http://www.themorningsun.com/…/rare-ice-disc-brings-nationa…
I heard about it from my old friend, Mount Pleasant resident William Kingsley. I didn’t find a diameter listed, but these things can be as large as 700 feet in larger rivers. And while the ice circle is definitely a natural phenomenon caused by unusual variations in water temperature and density, it’s still an incredible sight that reminds us just how marvelous and surprising our earthly surroundings can be.
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