Southern Ontarians experience ‘Frost Quakes’

If you’ve heard any loud bursts or blasts outside in the last couple of days but haven’t seen any evidence of anything happening, it could be another side effect of this brutally cold weather. It’s a relatively unknown phenomenon called a “frost quake”. Environment Canada calls them actual weather “events” and officials say this latest cold spell has made for ideal “frost quake” conditions.

Amber Garratt heard a loud bang at around three Friday morning in Newmarket. And had no idea that she had just heard a frost quake: “It almost sounded like something hit the house, or something had fallen, like a clock. It really scared me. I wasn’t sure what to think at first.”

Amber took to Twitter to tweet about what she experienced, and was relieved in a sense to know others felt it too.

Amber said: “I looked up hashtag frost quake. Saw everybody online in Markham, Newmarket within 10 minutes of it happening.”

Geoff Coulson is with Environment Canada: “Now with social media we’re getting Twitter reports, Facebook updates; evidence of these events actually happening.”

The ice storm put moisture in the soil, and a couple of rapid drops in temperature have made for the perfect frost quake conditions.

Geoff says: “It’s basically sound waves (from) fracturing of soils and rocks. Pressure in ground released. Pretty impressive noises.”

But when this snow melts, there likely won’t be any evidence of the quakes at all.

Geoff says: “There may be some fissures in the ground, but most of these are small enough and the sonic boom is all we got. The results in the earth will be rather secondary.”

Coulson says the effects of a frost quake can be compared to a small earthquake. Plates shaking, windows rattling. Nothing too serious. But the noise can be alarming.