This bizarre weather occurrence requires extremely frigid temperatures, like the 23 below zero seen in Chicago this week, where there have been reports of frost quakes… The nights certainly are drawing in, and indeed, half past two in the afternoon on Tuesday 22 September this year marks the autumn equinox, when day and night are exactly equal in length. The scientific term for a "frost quake" is cryoseism. Caused by sudden deep-freezing of the ground, frost quakes are common during the first cold snap of the year. Also known as cryoseisms, frost quakes are caused by a sudden rapid freezing of ground and bedrock, usually when temperatures go from above freezing to below zero. Snow helps to insulate the ground. The size of these crystals depend on time, temperature and the humidity of the air. quake definition: 1. to shake because you are very frightened or find something very funny, or to feel or show great…. My Forbes colleague Robin Andrews wrote about frost quakes recently, but I wanted to dive more into … The ice crystals that make up frost grow out from the solid surface as more water from the air is deposited. This past weekend, we noticed a heavier layer of frost … Frost Close Up . More popularly known as ice quakes or frost quakes, because they feel and sound like minor earthquakes, cryoseism is most common on glaciers, where ice is continually expanding and contracting, leading to great booming cracks as fissures form in the ice. Extreme cold temperatures during the winter months can result in reports of a little-known phenomenon called cryoseism. Icequake definition is - the concussion attending the breaking up of masses of ice. Related post: What Is A Frost Quake? frost quakes explained "Cryoseism is a special form of seismic event (ie: earthquake), not caused by moving tectonic plates, but instead, it is a result of the sudden onset of extreme cold," explains Weather Network meteorologist Scott Sutherland. Also known as cryoseisms, frost quakes are extremely localized; someone might not even feel the quake that just shook a neighbor awake. Cryoseism, also called frost quake, ice quake, or icequake, the sudden fracturing of soil or rock caused by rapid freezing of water in saturated ground. Such seismic events are sometimes mistaken for true earthquakes because they produce seismic vibrations, loud … subterms/derivative terms: Minor Quake = very overweight female, Plain and Simple Quake = extremely overweight female, Massive Quake … ‘The nights are fair drawing in’ is a trope about the weather that applies powerfully as you read this. Frost quakes are non-tectonic seismic events, meaning they are not caused by the shifting of the Earth’s tectonic plates. As moisture absorbed in the rock and soil freezes, it expands. Frost quake. Learn more. Noun; An extrememly overweight female. Frost heaving (or a frost heave) is an upwards swelling of soil during freezing conditions caused by an increasing presence of ice as it grows towards the surface, upwards from the depth in the soil where freezing temperatures have penetrated into the soil (the freezing front or freezing boundary).