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Ice Is Everywhere
Polar bears on the ice in the Arctic
Ice off the coast of Greenland
Y
ou probably know where to go to get some ice. Indoors you find
a refrigerator and look in the freezer. Outdoors is a different story.
If it’s winter, and you live between Montana and Maine along the
border with Canada, ice is everywhere. Every pond, creek, and bucket
of water is frozen. In the warmer parts of the country, and during the
summer, finding ice outdoors can be a challenge.
Some places are cold all year long. Alaska, Canada, Greenland,
Iceland, Scandinavia, and Siberia have ice year-round. Antarctica, which
covers the South Pole, is the iciest continent. More than 95 percent of
its land lies under thick ice. In some places, the ice is 4,300 meters (m)
thick. In the winter, frozen sea water forms an ice shelf around
Antarctica doubling the continent’s size!
If you live in snow country, you know what to expect. Usually
starting in December, heavy snow falls, covering everything under
a white blanket. During a heavy snow year, the snow may stay on
the ground until March or April. Then it melts.
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