SNOW ROLLERS...

May 28, 06:43 PM

THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE SNOW ROLLER

Believe it or not, I have weather buddies all over the country and one of my dearest is a lady named Shirley Machonis out in Helena, Montana. Shirley forwarded me this snipit on a winter phenomena known as snow rollers. Rollers are created much like snowmen in that you start with a small ball of wet snow that you roll until it grows until the desired size. The difference ,and this is BIG is that snow rollers are created with no human intervention. All you need is wet sticky snow and a stiff wind. The right combination can result in thousands of giant snowballs rolled up for miles on end. Some of the rollers can be as large a 3’ in width if winds are strong enough.
Snow rollers are not real common in the Midwest and I have never seen them personally. However, I do recall a couple winters ago an event in central Illinois that was well documented not far from Peoria.
Anyway you roll them, snow rollers are pretty cool and they create some dramatic weather scenery that normally would take hundreds of people and lots of elbow grease to create.
Thanks Shirley and ride the wind weatherbuddies and snow rollers alike!