Lake Baikal in southern Siberia, remains covered with ice for almost five months a year. Every winter as the temperature plummets below zero, the surface of the world’s largest freshwater lake freezes. But ice doesn’t begin to form until the middle of winter, long after the beginning of severe Siberian frosts. When other rivers and lakes froze long before in the year, Baikal still resists ice formation. Its cold waves break against the shore and decorate the seaboard rocks with icy patterns. But when it starts freezing, typically in the beginning of January, it stays frozen for the next five months. The ice on average is about a meter thick allowing cars and trucks to be easily driven over. The thickest sections can be up to two meters thick.

Photo credit: Alexey Trofimov