Drone video shows 'sand hoodoos' on Michigan beach

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Last winter blast carves sand pillars on Michigan beach

On the last full day of winter, an arctic blast froze this Michigan beach, then the strong winds carved out sand pillars. Some call these sand hoodoos.

SAINT JOSEPH, MICH. – On Monday, the last full day of winter, the season made its presence known by carving out sand pillars on the shore of Lake Michigan.

"Rare weather phenomenon this morning," drone pilot Nathan Voytovik posted on social media. "Frozen sand pillars. Perfectly sculpted by frozen wind. Our own little Grand Canyon! Hard to believe it was 60 a few days ago!"

In nearby South Bend, Indiana, the high hit 73 just last Monday and 61 on Saturday. Then 30-mph wind gusts out of the northwest for days blew in an arctic blast that knocked low temperatures down to the teens. 

The cold snap froze the beach, and then the wind and waves worked the layer into slabs and chunks. 

MYSTERIOUS SAND SLABS APPEARING ON LAKE MICHIGAN BEACH

File: Freezing conditions created frozen slabs of sand on a beach in Saint Joseph, Michigan, on January 30 Michigan-based photographer Nathan Voytovick captured footage of the "very interesting shapes" created by the conditions on Tiscornia Park Beach, with clumps of sand complete with icicles visible in his video.

(NatesDronography via Storyful / FOX Weather)

"Every year, as wind blows across the lake, there's no friction to stop it, so it pushes the sand around," Voytovik said. "Then, once it freezes over, the sand locks in place."

Water and wind continue pounding into the sand, breaking apart the frozen sections into smaller blocks, giving them the appearance of having just washed onto the shore. The chair of Geography at Michigan State University said the wind blows away the less frozen sections of beach, into something that looks like a ventifact – a sandblasted rock.

"I've lived here my whole life and I probably take it for granted," Voytovick said. "Every year, it's a little different. If there are stronger winds, you'd see even crazier sculptures."

These alien-looking objects on the beach formed in January 2022.

BIZARRE SAND SCULPTURES APPEAR ALONG LAKE MICHIGAN. HERE'S HOW ‘HOODOOS’ FORM

File: Sand sculptures at Tescornia Park along Lake Michigan.

(Terri Abbott / FOX 2)

"I know some people around here call them hoodoos – sand hoodoos," Jeff Rechner, the superintendent of parks at Saint Joseph, told FOX 2. 

Nature's art was ephemeral, though. Temperatures already jumped back into the upper 40s by Tuesday, which melted the makeshift glue that was holding them together.