#ice eggs

Photo: Risto Mattila

How marvelous, a beach of ice eggs.

Jouni Vainio, an ice specialist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, said the occurrence was not common, but could happen about once a year in the right weather conditions.

“You need the right air temperature (below zero, but only a bit), the right water temperature (near freezing point), a shallow and gently sloping sandy beach and calm waves, maybe a light swell,” he said.

“You also need something that acts as the core. The core begins to collect ice around it and the swell moves it along the beach, forward and back. A small ball surface gets wet, freezes and becomes bigger and bigger.”

Thousands of rare ‘ice eggs’ found on beach in Finland

These 'ice eggs' almost look fake.