General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAdd icicles to the cold weather warnings
Hate to be a buzzkill, but Dont let your kids lick icicles. Birds (and squirrels, raccoons, opossums, etc.) shit and pee on your roof, rain moves the shit slurry down to the eaves, where it can form into icicles. Ewwwww.

LeftInTX
(22,989 posts)No way would I eat anything from my roof! And I'm in SA, TX. We had icicles in 2021. They're pretty to look at, but that's it.
NewHendoLib
(59,226 posts)
chowder66
(8,702 posts)IcyPeas
(21,099 posts)we used to eat icicles all the time.
central scrutinizer
(11,507 posts)And we played with the mercury that came in our Gilbert Chemistry set and melted lead to pour into molds to make soldiers.
ProfessorGAC
(62,040 posts)...during a polar vortex winter here (2015?) the extreme temperatures caused contraction of structural supports for steam lines at the Midwest site. Resulted in steam leaks near of transfer manifold about 49' up.
Enormous icicles formed in 24-30 hours.
While prepping the area (locking out electric motors, putting covers on instruments, etc.) to steam the icicles away, a large one just broke under its own weight and fell into a dyke area where two mechanics were.
No direct hit, but one guy was hit by a deflection of a piece that had to weigh 25 pounds. It was about the size of 3 1 gallon bottles of milk.
It hit him in the shoulder and chin. He missed a week of work because of the bruises. The other guy didn't have a scratch.
Icicles can be darned dangerous when they get big.