50 foot high 'Ice volcano' forms at New York state park

© Rich Robinson/Glen Iris Inn

The arctic conditions have turned a fountain at a state park in western New York into a five-story-tall "ice volcano."

The pressure-fed fountain is in a pond near the Glen Iris Inn at Letchworth State Park, which straddles the Wyoming-Livingston county line 40 miles south of Rochester. Days of subzero temperatures have formed a solid cone of ice several feet thick with water still spouting out of the top.

Park officials tell local media that the formation dubbed an ice volcano is at least 50 feet high.

Winter is normally a quiet season for the park, known as the "Grand Canyon of the East" for its scenic gorges, but dozens of people are showing up daily to see the frozen wonder while it lasts.

© John Kucko