Mysterious snowballs appear on Siberian beach by Rob Beschizza from on 2016-11-06 13:02 (#20JN4) The Gulf of Ob is a remote Siberian reach of the Russian empire, and its beaches are covered in gigantic snowballs up to a meter across. The BBC reports that they're the result of a "rare environmental process where small pieces of ice form, are rolled by wind and water, and end up as giant snowballs." (Photo: SERGEI BYCHENKOV)