PORT CLINTON, Ohio (WCMH/AP) – It looks like a scene from the arctic, but it’s really the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio.

Mountains of thick ice have piled up more than 30 feet high. They’re sometimes called an “ice shove,” “ice heave” or “ice tsunami.”

The phenomenon starts with strong winds pushing ice towards shore. As the initial slabs reach land, they create a jam that results in piles of ice.

“I’ve been coming up here for 20 years or so and never seen this kind of an ice flow,” Mike Zwissler told Fox 8 in Cleveland.

While many people were climbing the chunks of ice, they can be dangerous, surging forward rapidly and without notice.

Last week, the Coast Guard issued a warning about potentially unstable ice on the Great Lakes. They say the volatile weather has “caused multiple ice rescue cases with one life lost in just the past week.”

Rescue crews responded Wednesday night following a report a township man riding an all-terrain vehicle fell through the lake ice. The search continues for his body.MORE TOP STORIES: