in Mackinaw City is a good place to view the blue ice with a backdrop of the Mackinac Bridge.

Glacial ice is a different color than regular ice. It is so blue because the dense ice of the glacier absorbs every other color of the spectrum except blue, so blue is what we see.

Why Water and Ice Are Blue In both its liquid and solid form, water (H2O) molecules absorb red and yellow light, so the reflected light is blue. Glacier ice appears more turquoise than blue because hydrogen bonding within ice shifts the absorption spectrum of ice to lower energy, making it greener than liquid water.

The formation occurs when snow on top of the ice is compressed and squeezes out all of the air bubbles increasing its density. This process allows the ice to absorb colors, resulting in vibrant chunks of blue ice.

Generally speaking, the ice packs will stay frozen from 24-36 hours in an insulated container. At room temperature, figure on about 3-4 hours. Most importantly, they will maintain stay frozen longer than ice!

When light is allowed to penetrate deeper into an ice structure, it allows for more of the “red” spectrum of the light to be absorbed out. The deeper the white light is allowed to travel through the ice, the more blue it appears.

Well, the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior experiences blue ice near their famous winter ice caves. They explained the phenomenon by stating, “Ice only appears blue when it is sufficiently consolidated so that air bubbles do not interfere with the passage of light.

The ice is formed by selective absorption by water and ice in the red/yellow part of the color spectrum, which causes the light reflected by it to appear blue. The ice appeared shortly after an ice bridge formed on southern Lake Huron, just north of the Blue Water Bridge.

So here is another shot of the blue ice on Lake Huron, East Tawas, MI. “Blue ice is a known winter phenomenon in the Great Lakes, the largest glacial lakes in the world. “This increases the tendency for ice to slightly absorb red and infrared light to impart the blue tint.”.

Lake Michigan ice balls appear on beach at Holland State Park.

Strong and persistent winds from the north began blowing over Lake Michigan. You may think this pulled down cooler water from the north, but this unusually cold water actually came from deep within the lake’s depths. The winds from the north are the cause, but the how is slightly more complex.

Ice balls form when turbulent water near the shore breaks up a layer of slushy ice, according to CNN Weather. The National Weather Service in Grand Rapids said Friday that it “finally got cold enough” for the ice balls to form on Lake Michigan. A brutal arctic blast in the Midwest triggered the phenomenon.

Collins ice spears are used for highball cocktails, such as a gin and tonic or a whiskey soda; here, a stack of one-inch cubes would do the trick, but the ice spear is far more impressive looking.

“Good ice will keep a drink cool but bad ice won’t just cool your drink down; it will melt more rapidly and dilute the drink, causing it to lose all its delicate notes and nuances,” she explained. Generally, cocktails are meant to be savored, and not drunk quickly.

While you can drink whiskey neat at room temperature, if you’re still getting used to the idea of sipping on whiskey, we recommend using ice to temper the intensity. Even if you’re normally a neat whiskey drinker, try it out. The colder the ice, the better. As it melts, the ice will also help dilute the whiskey.

It is commonly believed that putting ice cubes in your wine is a faux pas; watering down and diluting the flavours of the wine. That’s what wine’s for, after all. ‘But, unless you’re drinking super-fast, the ice will melt and dilute the wine and it won’t taste as good.

Can Germs Live in Your Ice? coli and salmonella can survive in freezing temperatures and are perfectly willing to hitch a ride on an ice cube to infect a host. The good news is bacteria and viruses don’t grow and proliferate well on inorganic surfaces, like ice.

Ice doesn’t destroy a good Scotch or anger the whisky gods, as many may believe. It simply changes the experience. By adding ice the temperature of the whisky rapidly drops, and this temperature drop is known to calm the alcoholic burn of Scotch and make it more refreshing.