A toe-gnawingly chill morning in Cork city. January 2025 was overall an icier January than average. Ice does funny things as it forms from water. While other elements lose volume when they transition from liquid to solid, water does the opposite: it expands. You may know this from keeping a bottle of water in a freezer or cold weather. The ice inside the bottle will take up more space than the water did.

Forming freely on surfaces due to cold air temperatures, ice can also create some cool structures as seen in the image above.

References:

1. https://www.met.ie/climate-statement-for-january-2025