Could you imagine a frozen Niagara Falls? It happened, at least partially. Photos show that parts of the iconic tourist attraction on the border of the United States and Canada have actually frozen as a result of the polar vortex that sent ice cold temperatures across the region.
Parts of the 167-foot waterfall were frozen on Tuesday and Wednesday as the high temperature was only a record low of minus 2 degrees. Ice had formed on the U.S. side of the falls, which is split between the United States and Canada. The site was captured by Reuters photographer, Aaron Harris.
The site sure is unusual but it isn't unheard of. This isn't the first time the Niagara Falls froze over. There are photos dating back to the early and mid-1900s in the Niagara Falls Public Library. The photos appear to show the falls frozen but some experts have questioned the authenticity of those photos.
Despite parts of the falls freezing, the icy temperatures did not stop the water from flowing this time, although it has happened before.
EnvironmentalGraffiti.com says that for the first and only time, in 1848, "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."
The frozen Falls isn't a site that will last long of course. The frozen parts are expected to thaw out later in the week as the temperature of Niagara Falls is expected to rise to 46 degrees.
Harris' photos are recent as were taken on January 8, 2014, but many on the Internet have come across photos on Twitter and Facebook that are fake or are from previous years.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
