See photos from week of wintry weather

Many Americans are bundling up and dealing with cold weather and frigid temperatures.

For example in Ohio Friday, the National Weather Service issued a warning for the Cleveland, Ohio area.

“Heavy lake effect snow,” the government agency said. “Additional snow accumulations between 6 and 12 inches in Erie County and 2 to 4 inches in Crawford County.”

The warning will remain in effect until 1:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, the NWS said. The government agency is advising travelers to bring a flashlight, food, and water in case of an emergency when traveling on the slick and hazardous roads. The hazardous conditions could impact the Friday evening commute, the NWS said.

In Michigan, the conditions have been blistering, but some have been having fun with it.

This week Michigan residents captured snow doughnuts in their backyard. Paw Paw residents Janice and Eric Pantelleria saw the nice, rolled objects throughout their large lawn that made them wonder if their kids had played a trick on them.

“My husband was outside clearing the driveway when he noticed them,” Janice Pantelleria told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. “At first he thought that the kids had rolled a couple snowballs in the yard — but then noticed that they were surrounding our house.”

Pantelleria shared photos of the snow rolls on Facebook, and it received plenty of attention.

On Wednesday, Anna Azallion, a multimedia journalist at AccuWeather posted a video on X that explained the natural phenomena.

“This is called doughnut ice,” she said in the video. “It forms very similarly to the ice pancakes, but when those pieces collide like they do to make that round shape, the water splashes up on them, right, and then rephrases. That’s why you see more of that kind of white perimeter around the doughnut ice.”

Typically, ice pancakes form on a lake or sea and can occur when waves are active to break up a solid sheet of ice, Azallion said. Azallion also explains that doughnut ice usually forms the same way as ice pancakes but there are some differences,

“It creates that thicker ice right around the edges, and that’s why they’re whiter more than clear,” she said. “But just like the ice pancakes, they’re slushy and break apart easily when they’re lifted.”

You can find ice pancakes and doughnuts in the following areas:

“Both of these are often found on the Great Lakes,” Azallion said. “The doughnut ice is along Lake Erie in Buffalo there. You can also find in Canada, along the Baltic Sea and in Antarctica.”

The two will form when temperatures dip below freezing for a few days, Azallion said.

Here is a look at some photos of the “snow doughnuts” and other wintry scenes across the U.S. this week.

It’s fluffy: The surprising reason lake-effect snow buries cities

Photos show ‘snow doughnuts’ and winter weather conditions in US

National Snow Forecast Map

Although it is cold, warmer weather is expected to be on the horizon soon next week.

The map below shows the probability that an area could receive more than 4 inches of snow. Use the slider at the top left to toggle by day.

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, food recalls, health, lottery, and public policy stories. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram, Threads, and X (Twitter) @forbesfineest.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US winter weather: See photos of ‘snow doughnuts’, winter conditions