Photos Allegedly of Frozen Cars in Chicago are Actually From 2005

A series of photos allegedly depict cars encased in ice in Chicago as part of the 2014 “polar vortex” freeze. Are these images real or fake?

The photos were not taken in 2014, and they were not taken in Chicago.

The images were shot after a severe freeze in Switzerland back in 2005. As described at the time by skysandsummit.com:

Wednesday, 26. of January 2005. The the local weather forecast announce a great cold coming on Switzerland; soon materialized by a massive ice layer all around the lake! The Ice Show is guaranteed for anyone who dares to attempt a lakeside walk, where the wind gusts reach 110km/h (60mph).. you guess the temperature…

Warning! some images are likely to shock certain people’s sensitivity…

The photos were taken at Lake Geneva, also known as Lake Léman, under the jurisdiction of Switzerland. Additional photos can be found at pbase.com, which wrote,

After a conjunction of intense cold (-10 to -18 degrees Centigrade), plus very strong winds, blowing at over 100 kmh (70 mph), the waves got so harsh that they passed over the dikes and the droplets immediately froze everything they touched!

This video shows more details of the 2005 Switzerland freeze:

A news item in February 2005 features one of these photos, with the headline “Wind and Ice on Geneva!” and a link to the skyandsummit.com photo set linked above.

How did the cars become encased in ice? As PBase.com described above, strong winds created waves that passed over the dykes, creating a mist which coated the nearby cars, instantly freezing on them. Skyandsummit.com reported that the ice continued to thicken on the vehicles for over 24 hours.

The same photos have circulated recent years with a false caption that they were taken in the city of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, not the lake of the same name in Europe.  In January 2014, the images reappeared, with the assertion that they depict cars frozen near Chicago as part of the polar vortex which has set record cold temperatures across the country.

Although that particular set of photos is not real, you can see real photos of the devastating cold in this set of 2014 Chicago photos by Colossal or this set from the Daily Mail.

Bottom Line

Photos depicting cars encased in ice were not taken in Chicago in 2014. They were taken in Switzerland in 2005.