Despite the arrival of spring, some residents of Manitoba were on their way to a wonderful surprise over the weekend as ice accumulated on the shore of Lake Winnipeg, forming what appeared to be giant ice mounds.

"Ron Suzuki," who lives in Winnipeg, said he drove to Riverton, MB, on Friday evening and saw ice accumulating to about 25 feet high.

Regarding the reason for the ice accumulation, "Alex Crawford," a research associate and trainer at the "U of M’s" Earth Observation Science Center, said this is a classic "ice pile."

Crawford explained that ice shields occur more commonly in spring and involve a moving ice cover and steady winds.

"For the ice cover to be moving, it must float on the water. If it is too thick, it may settle on the lake bottom and not move easily.

Crawford added that mobile ice packs are more common during the spring melt season because, in the fall, ice grows from the shore, but in the spring, melting usually occurs around the shoreline before the center of the lake, then the moving ice cover pushes to the shore and creates an ice fissure."

"Suzuki" said he had seen ice surges before on Winnipeg Beach in April 2010. "It is a very amazing phenomenon."