A Lot Of People In Canada Are Experiencing Mysterious "Frost Quakes"

Many have been reporting hearing loud booms across the Greater Toronto since Christmas Eve.

by Cate Sevilla

BuzzFeed Staff, UK

Posted on January 3, 2014, 12:11 pm

It seems that many people in Ontario are experiencing "frost quakes," though they're generally rare.

Although a frost quake may sound as realistic as a sharknado, apparently they're a real — albeit rare — phenomenon.

Anthony Farnell
@AnthonyFarnell
Similar frostquakes or "cryoseisms" were heard on Monday. Here's an explanation of how these rare events occur. http://t.co/Jyq9sc6P2s
/ Via

Frost quakes, or cryoseisms, occur when there is a rapid drop in temperature. Water that is in the ground freezes. Because it has nowhere else to go, it cracks the soil or rock causing a loud noise and the shaking of the ground.These types of cryoseisms are rare and poorly understood. There are two types of cryoseisms: a frost quake and an ice quake. An ice quake occurs over bodies of water such as lakes and rivers.

Although the United State Geological Survey and the American Meteor Society had no reports of seismic events, people across Ontario have been reporting frost quakes since Christmas Eve.

Dave Patrick
@wwxchaser
I have finally figured it out what we heard and felt. @MikeGamble @bertrand93 @Christina_G_P http://t.co/WdrudDpjKZ #frostquake #cryoseism
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Catherine Woodgold, a seismologist with Earthquakes Canada, said that with the sudden drop in temperature, frost quakes were a "very likely explanation" for what people have been experiencing.

Esther TheWonder Pig
@EstherThePig
I survived the GTA Frost Quakes!! #frostquake #estherthewonderpig
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It could be an effect with the house itself. Like the house itself could be shifting to the response in the temperature. It could be an effect with the house itself. Like the house itself could be shifting to the response in the temperature.