Snow, Ice Can Result in Pretty Cool ‘Sculptures’

About now, we're all probably getting a little tired of the snow, and ice, and slush and getting stuck in our neighborhoods. But if you keep your eyes open, winter can provide some cool looking artwork.

At first glance, this might appear to be the world's longest icicle. But it's actually a frozen rain chain, at the Yakima Federal Bank on Gage and Steptoe.

Like some buildings, they have a chain going from the rain gutter to the ground, where water is dispersed. Instead of having downspouts that periodically have to be cleaned-even taken apart to remove clogs-these chains carry the water to the ground. This type of system allows for gutters on overhanging buildings to not need downspouts funneling back to the building.

But when it snows as much as it has, with some thawing and draining, It creates a very cool icicle scupture, that takes on the shape of the chain links. It looks like a giant spiral going from the gutter to the ground. All in all, it's over 8 feet long.