Ice on the top

Many of us may think it is odd that people walked or even elected a king on the top of the ice on the Danube during the past centuries, but in those times it was not rare. Nowadays, the congelation of the river is almost unimaginable. There are several reasons for that, but the most important one is the river control

Unlike the Danube, Lake Balaton usually freezes in: the thickness of ice often reaches 20-30 cm. Despite that, the forming ice layer is not contiguous, which is sad news for ice-skaters. Ice-cracks are typical there, which mean long ruptures on the surface due to rising temperature, accompanied by specific sound effects. The reverse process causes the dilatation of the ice due to lowering temperature, which makes layers congest on one another or on the coasts. You can see the so-called ice-jam phenomenon and the icy Balaton in our photos from the database.

jégtáblák torlódása

Turolások Alsóörs

Nyitott rianás

Let’s not forget about our rivers either. Owing to the record coldness in these days, there are floating ice chunks on the Danube. About 90 years ago, the river also had a surprise: a 10-km-long part of it froze between Pozsony (Bratislava) and Bős (Gabcikovo) in 1928, which can be viewed on the newsreel below.

TÉ
Translated by Zita Aknai

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