Frigid Photos Of Winter That Are Making People Shiver

Coming to theatres near you... This ominous photo looks like a still shot straight out of the movie The Day After Tomorrow. But nope, it's a very real frozen-over lake in Chicago. You can just picture an ice tsunami forming and totally annihilating the helpless city cowering in the distance.

If the owner of this vehicle carefully collects every individual piece of perfectly frozen ice from their car, they could build the world's first ice-mobile! Now if only cars ran on cold water instead of gasoline...

This mesmerizing explosion of powder is what happens when you take a pot full of boiling water and toss it straight into negative 40-degree air. Do take caution if you choose to try this one at home — we all know that boiling water can make for seriously bad boo-boos!

Some people like their pasta noodles soft and chewy, and some like them al dente, a little firmer. But here we have a bowl of pasta so firm it's inedible! The cold froze those noodles so stiff they held the weight of a metal fork! The photo trend has caught on since this nood-tastic shot, with people replicating it as far afield as the Arctic Circle!

Anyone who thinks firefighters only deal with heat needs to take a good look at this stunning photo. Ice enveloped this rescue worker, but he didn't let it slow him down one bit. Chief Mitch Hansen came to the rescue — no matter how cold the conditions got. Now, that is bravery!

Someone call the cops! The invisible man is scouring the neighborhood and screaming in people's front lawns. It's going to be impossible to catch him if he takes off those pants though...

Whoa, this person took off part of the car when they opened up the door! Even though weather this cold is never pleasant, it definitely makes for unique and awesome photo opportunities.

This has to be clever camera work right? Nope. It was actually so cold that bubbles would freeze as soon as they were blown. The woman who blew this should try catching some and having the world's most delicate snowball fight.

That row of thick unforgiving icicles looks like a long line of frozen soldiers ready to storm Chicago. Little does the ice know that city folk are some of the toughest and most resilient people around. Bring it on!

In Iowa, it was so cold that it turned a bottle of antifreeze into a solid. Antifreeze. The name literally means "no freezing." The entire purpose of the stuff is to help things avoid exactly what it fell victim to. We guess it's time to patent the anti-anti-freeze, then...

You can train for as long as you want to be a makeup artist, but you'll never be able to achieve this incredibly delicate look. Who knew that Old Man Winter was so fashion-forward?

What kind of sorcery is this? How is it possible that a powerful cascading waterfall can become completely frozen in time? We wouldn't mess with any magical being capable of pulling off this level of voodoo! The real question is, can we really still call it a waterfall?

The dark icy abyss that formed in this toilet stares directly through your soul. This looks like the kind of darkness Frodo would need to drop the ring into to vanquish it for good. The Toilet of Mordor!

It's days like this that you cross everything off your errand list and crawl back into bed. Why would you ever want to venture outside and see what's behind these frozen doors?

There are fewer joys in life to a dog than rolling around in fresh powder, but few will have had the honor of standing beside their very own icy double! Mychtar the dog admittedly looks a little unsure of his chilled-out sidekick, but fingers crossed he'll warm to him soon.

Jack Frost must have used the restroom before he left; one flush from his icy fingers solidified the entire tank! These people need some heated toilet seats for the next time he comes snooping around.

After the landlord of this apartment building turned off the building's heat, this tenant got creative with their stove and a fan. Although it worked, a fire warden would never approve.

So much for starting your car so the engine warms up. Looks like this person is staying in for the night, which is never a bad thing in this kind of weather. It's called Netflix and chill for a reason.

Winter also can be a bit odd sometimes. In the chaos of the snowstorm, cascading sculptures formed off the edge of the roof. They look as if they are defying gravity because of some magical spell they're under!

How would you like your eggs: scrambled, fried, sunny-side up, or iced? This proves that neither the chicken nor the egg came first; it was actually a winter storm!

Even the water pressure a fire hydrant provided was no match for these subzero temperatures. It might have seemed like a good idea to pop the hydrant to prevent freezing but then there was a huge hockey rink in the middle of the sidewalk.

How about this ice sheet that was left behind after a freezing rain event? It looks as though a ghostly replica of the truck was left in place to document a moment in time that once existed... an eerie reminder of what was once there.

One of the coolest things about winter is that your car can apparently develop defensive spikes on its hubcaps. Even Transformers would be totally jealous of your wheels — this makes the other Autobots look far less superior.

Billions of snowflakes can fall from the sky in a single snow event. All of them together create a swirling picture against the purple hue of the night sky. But have you ever caught a single snowflake on your coat and looked at the intricacy of that small piece of art? Well, look no further...

Winter swimming in Shenyang, China is not for the faint-hearted. With actual chunks of ice to contend with as well as temperature lows of as little as 19°F, looking at this lone swimmer is enough to make anyone wince. Just keep swimming...

You know it's officially wintertime when you look down and see that your beard and nose hairs are frozen solid. Who knows, the look could come in handy if you were a Santa Claus impersonator and forgot your beard. Hey, we're trying to look for the silver lining here!

If you ever look out of your window and see a vision like this, we'd strongly recommend getting back into your pajamas — your day has been canceled! If your plans are simply too important to cancel, you're going to need a heck of a lot of anti-freeze and some serious determination to thaw out a car this iced up.

It's all fun and games until Mother Nature decides to raise the thermostat from 32°F to 33ºF. Then all of a sudden your creation goes from Frosty the Snowman to a used car lot's wacky, waving, arm-flailing, inflatable tube man.

A gold star for at least trying to keep your face warm! It's just a shame this operation deep freeze sailor at Williams Field in Antarctica seems to have a particularly chilly chin. There's only one thing for it — call off the mission and head back for hot cocoa immediately.

Mother Nature said, "You shall not pass," but thankfully we have snowblowers capable of plowing through several feet of snow. So have no fear, you'll still be able to get to work on time and clock in a full eight hours.

You've been walking for miles in the blistering cold, but what's that up ahead? Don't be fooled by the inviting glow of this lighthouse's windows. To get to the warm depths of the lookout's rooms, you'd first need to overcome a perilously icy walkway flanked by icicles that have formed themselves into deadly spikes. Back the way you came, then?

When this person opened their trunk, the snow just...stayed in place. They didn't have to play a game of snowstorm roulette and wonder, will the snow fall inside the car? Will the door be frozen shut? Hopefully their luck doesn't run out.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and this image is a testament to that fact. I think we can all safely assume that this cat was having absolutely nothing to do with the blanket of snow waiting outside its cat flap. With just one touch, he hot-footed it back to bed.

"Go outside," they said, "it'll be fun," they said. If having your coat and thermal trousers frozen to a sheet of solid ice while you wonder if you heard a cracking sound is your definition of fun, then you must be missing something. Each to their own...