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Photographer captures winter chills in the Okanagan

Penticton Western News reader John Poon captured the winter chills perfectly in these two photos.
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Penticton Western News reader John C. Poon captured the winter chills perfectly in this photo from the frozen shores of Okanagan Lake and below on Skaha Lake.

 

Penticton Western News reader John Poon captured the winter chills perfectly in these two photos.

Poon said the prolonged subzero temperature allows all sorts of natural sculptures to be formed on the frozen lake shores.

The plant is on Okanagan Lake and the ice volcano (below) is on Skaha Lake.

"As winter ice begins to build along the shores of large lakes, strong winds blowing onshore and wave motion on the waters break up the ice, and they start piling on top of each and building what is known as an ice shelf. Amongst the numerous ice blocks comprising a shelf, many develops cracks.

Waves coming into shore from deeper water strike the edge of the ice shelf, causing them to go under the ice and as the water depth becomes shallow, the energy in the wave causes it to rise up, just like a tsunami. When the energetic wave finds a crack on the ice sheet, it causes the water to sprout creating an ice volcano. If the hole is covered with snow, the eruption may spray snow outward like a volcanic gas cloud."

Send us your winter photos and videos to newstips@pentictonwesternnews.com