A viral sensation

Danny Clemens reports at Discovery

A winter weather system raging through the American Midwest left in its path a viral sensation: a perfect ice cast of a speed limit sign.

On Sunday afternoon, Barbie Jeffers Battershell tweeted a photo of the ice cast sliding down off of a speed limit sign in Mustang, Oklahoma. Her photo has been shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook.

Although street signs in many municipalities appear to be completely flat, residents from Mustang have pointed out that the lettering on signs in their area are made with vinyl decals that are thick enough to leave an imprint in the ice casing, debunking claims that the photo was digitally altered. Another resident even captured a photo of the same sign from a different angle.

Over the weekend, severe weather claimed more than a dozen lives in parts of the Midwest. The system has spawned floods in Texas and crippling ice storms in Oklahoma, where Governor Mary Fallin Thursday declared a state of emergency.