"When
it was so cold out, I heard a loud sound and felt my house shake. I heard it
might have been a frost quake. Could you give me more information about
that?" The extreme temperatures on January 6th and 7th caused the Newton
Falls Public Library to close, and we wouldn't be surprised if they caused some
strange weather conditions as well.
Breanna
Draxler explains the science behind frost quakes in an article for the Discover Magazine blog. Also called
cryoseisms, frost quakes occur when a cold snap follows a warm spell. Rain and
melting snow seep into the earth, and then when it's cold again, they freeze
and expand, cracking the frozen soil around them as they do. Frost quakes
typically happen between midnight and dawn, when the night's at its coldest.
They're fairly rare, and, fortunately, they don't often cause any damage.
According
to Bob Downing's article in the Akron Beacon Journal, there's no way to
prove that the loud boom that some Northeast Ohio residents experienced was a
frost quake. However, the conditions were ideal, so it's a strong possibility.
If people have been hearing their houses creak a lot lately, that can also be
explained by the weather -- wood contracts in the cold, and wood joints may move
a fraction of an inch.
For
more information on unusual weather conditions, the Newton Falls Public Library
has the National Audubon Society's Field Guide to Weather,
Christopher C. Burt's Extreme Weather, and Bruce Buckley, Edward J.
Hopkins, and Richard Whitaker's Weather: A Visual Guide available
for borrowing.
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