OT: Anyone else ever hear of "snow rollers"?

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 1:17 pm

Driving in to Springfield today, we passed numerous yards and fields that were full of big clumps of snow up to a foot or so in diameter and we only got 2-3 inches of snow. Looking closer, they turned out to be rolls of snow, rather like a rolled-up carpet, many of them with hollow centers. The newspaper said they're called "snow rollers" caused by snow falling in a high wind and being rolled across the ground by the wind.

I've lived most of my 55+ years in the godforsaken northlands and never saw anything like this. Odd.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 1:22 pm

When I was a child, my parents had an acreage where they had a few cows and some cropland. One summer for a change, they decided to plant popcorn. As it happens, that turned out to be a disaster. It got so hot that summer, the popcorn popped in the field, the cows thought it was snowing and froze to death. They lost everything.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Kim in Tulsa · Post by **Kim in Tulsa** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 1:24 pm

Very interesting! Kinda like snow "tumbleweeds!"

Here's an interesting article about them:

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_wdl/snowroller1.asp

First crullers, now this!

K

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 1:33 pm

Haven't seen those in years, because I live in the Banana Belt of Canada. But did see them when I lived up in the Ottawa Valley as a kid.

MarkB

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 1:56 pm

I used to see more of them when I was a kid living on the Great Plains. To be honest, the wonder of them paled because it was usually so freakin' cold, I was more concerned with getting my tongue away from the lamp post.

N, ouch ouch ouch

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 2:08 pm

Last night it was below zero, and I was out in one of the mobile homes I'm rehabbing to sell, hanging shelves. I usually hold a few screws in my mouth as I'm working, handy for the next place I need to drive one. Well, they stuck to my tongue. Oopth.

paulsdad · Post by **paulsdad** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 3:49 pm

Cool!

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 5:00 pm

Where's the photograph ?

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 5:49 pm

Snow-rollers --- SUVes on ice, heading for the ditch.

MarkB

spittin_in_the_wind · Post by **spittin_in_the_wind** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 9:00 pm

On 2003-02-12 14:17, Chuck_Clark wrote:
Driving in to Springfield today, we passed numerous yards and fields that were full of big clumps of snow up to a foot or so in diameter and we only got 2-3 inches of snow. Looking closer, they turned out to be rolls of snow, rather like a rolled-up carpet, many of them with hollow centers. The newspaper said they're called "snow rollers" caused by snow falling in a high wind and being rolled across the ground by the wind.

I've lived most of my 55+ years in the godforsaken northlands and never saw anything like this. Odd.

That sounds psychotic!

Get out of that godforsaken place while you still can! Oops, our driveway looks like a good candidate for snow rollers, so nevermind....

Robin

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 9:20 am

On 2003-02-12 18:00, Zubivka wrote:
Where's the photograph ?

Actually, I took the digital camera out and took about 30 of them, including some of whole little herds of them. It was cool because there really wasn't that much snow so many of them had trails of bare grass for 5-10 feet behind them, just like they'd been grazing on the snow.

If someone would tell me in relatively simple terms how to post a picture here, I'd be glad to do so.

brownja · Post by **brownja** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 9:36 am

in the winter, when the snow is on the ground, i ride rollers

<img src= "http://www.classicrendezvous.com/images ... yl_r1L.jpg">

(not my bike, this is just a link to a photo i found)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: brownja on 2003-02-13 10:50 ]</font>

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 10:28 am

That US of A place just gets weirder and weirder.

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 11:29 am

Sounds like something out of the Simpsons to me....

MichaelG · Post by **MichaelG** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 11:52 am

I live in Lincoln, just 30 miles north of Springfield, IL. When I drove in to work yesterday, snow rollers--hundreds of 'em--were scattered all over the front lawn of the college where I teach. Weirdest thing I've ever seen.

<img src="http://www.lincolndailynews.com/images/ ... ballF3.jpg">

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: MichaelG on 2003-02-13 12:55 ]</font>