Niagara Falls Freezes Over

The record-breaking chill across the U.S. and Canada was so frigid it literally stopped Niagara Falls in its tracks.
A collection of spectacular photographs have shown the moment the U.S. side of the famous falls froze before they could reach the bottom on Tuesday when the temperature hit a record low of minus 2 degrees

Aaron Harris, a photographer for Reuters, took several shots of the 167-foot frozen falls Wednesday. The ice formed on the U.S. side of the falls, which straddle the border with Canada.

While unusual, it's not the first time Niagara Falls has frozen. Photographs from the early- and mid-1900s archived at Niagara Falls Public Library appear to show frozen falls, though some experts have questioned their authenticity. Of course, the eye-catching freeze did not completely stop water from flowing.

Only once has freezing weather "caused the thousands of cubic feet of water per second flowing over the Niagara Falls to run dry, an event thought to have been caused by ice jamming and damming upriver," and that was in 1848.

Thankfully, the freezing air and 'polar vortex' that turned the cascading water to ice - and affected about 240 million people in the U.S. and southern Canada - will depart during the second half of this week, and a far-reaching January thaw will begin.


Raw footage from Reuters.