The temporal evolution of the OH stretching modes of a noncrystalline ice deposit upon annealing followed by crystallization near 160 K has been investigated by FT-IR reflectionabsorption spectroscopy. Using the earlier theoretical results from Whalley (E. Whalley. Can. J. Chem. 55, 3429 (1977)) and from Buch and Devlin (V. Buch and J.P. Devlin. J. Chem. Phys. 110, 3437 (1999)), the most prominent changes in these modes have been characterized for the first time. A dynamical picture of the structural transformation during crystallization has been developed, and it supports the observation that crystallization proceeds directly from a noncrystalline to a crystalline state without any long-lived intermediate state structurally different from its noncrystalline predecessor.Key words: crystallization, noncrystalline ice, FT-IR reflectionabsorption spectroscopy, temporary evolution.