Frazil Ice In Yosemite

It looks like snow floating in the river...but it's not! Frazil ice is small frozen water crystals or frozen mist from the waterfalls. It resembles slush and it floats on the surface of the water. You will find it in the Yosemite Creek here in Yosemite in the months of March and April.

The surface water of the Yosemite Creek is warmer than the water beneath the surface. As the air cools down, the surface water looses its heat and cools the surface water quickly. Because the water in the river is moving, small ice crystals form. The ice crystals are pushed to the bottom of the creek.

Yosemite Creek is what flows out of Lower Yosemite Falls.

When the ice crystals are pushed to the bottom of the moving creek, they multiply. There is approximately one million crystals per cubic meter. The crystals attach themselves to things in the water. As the crystals attach to objects under the waters surface, a dam forms and the water must find a new way to flow.

As the waterfalls continue to flow in the winter, the mist from the falling water freezes. It forms a snow cone at the base of Yosemite Falls. The snowcone melts when spring comes. Watch the picture below and you can see the snow cone forming! Layers of ice freeze to the granite walls during the winter months. As the weather warms up, ice sheets melt or collapse and add to the snow cone at the bottom of the waterfall.

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