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June 22, 2009: Snow Rollers
They look a little like snow covered hay rolls, but they are not.
| On the evening of March 31st, 2009, Tim Tevebaugh was driving home from work east of Craigmont in the southern Idaho Panhandle. Across the rolling hay fields, Tim saw a very unusual phenomenon. The snow rollers that he took pictures of are extremely rare because of the unique combination of snow, wind, temperature and moisture needed to create them. They form with light but sticky snow and strong (but not too strong) winds. These snow rollers formed during the day as they weren’t present in the morning on Tim’s drive to work. |
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The following conditions are needed for snow rollers to form: The ground must be covered by a layer of ice to which snow will not stick. The layer of ice must be covered by wet, loose snow with a temperature near the melting point of ice. The wind must be strong enough to move the snow rollers, but not strong enough to blow them too fast. Alternatively, gravity can move the snow rollers as when a snowball, such as those that will fall from a tree or cliff, lands on steep hill and begins to roll down the hill. Because of this last condition, snow rollers are more common in hilly areas. However, the precise nature of the conditions required makes them a very rare phenomenon. |
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ZenGum Monday Jun 22 12:30 AM
Basically, cylindrical snowballs, right?
Wow. I love it when freaky stuff happens.
SPUCK Monday Jun 22 06:01 AM
Those pictures are from a mile away and they're sixty five feet high. If you look closely you can see cows and sheep embedded in them.
xoxoxoBruce Monday Jun 22 06:46 AM
Most of them are 18 inches to two feet in diameter.
spudcon Monday Jun 22 07:03 AM
Those are small cows and sheep that I see embedded in them.
capnhowdy Monday Jun 22 08:27 AM
Makes me want to be there instead of in this 100+ degree hell we're in down here. Looks refreshing.
classicman Monday Jun 22 08:36 AM
Mother Nature is so amazing - Thanks Bruce, another great find.
Clodfobble Monday Jun 22 09:03 AM
Shawnee123 Monday Jun 22 11:43 AM
Very cool. Reminds me of that rolled up hay or straw or whatever it is...when I worked at the produce farm in the market some guy asked me how much one of those rolls weighed. I'm like "how the hell should I know?" No, not really, I only thought that.
xoxoxoBruce Monday Jun 22 12:20 PM
A 5 ft hay roll should weigh about 1,000 lbs. 
Shawnee123 Monday Jun 22 12:28 PM
Dang. Wish the Cellar had existed in 1981, or at the very least that I knew Bruce.
That's funny, though, I might have told the guy, these days "I don't know, I'll google it later."
Trilby Monday Jun 22 01:33 PM
How come so many weird things happen in Idaho?
Hemingway, separatists, my own private...now this.
Makes you think.
dar512 Monday Jun 22 03:34 PM
Apologies to Bri and Hemingway, but snow rollers happen in lots of places.
Gravdigr Monday Jun 22 04:25 PM
Here in KY, we don't roll our snow. We roll our dope, though, we've been known to do that on occasion. Our snow, now, we line that up in big fat slobberknockers on a large mirr---oh, wait, wait, nevermind.
capnhowdy Monday Jun 22 06:49 PM
I wish we could get enough snow to roll down here. It's once in a blue moon.
SPUCK Tuesday Jun 23 05:25 AM
Mother Nature is so amazing - Thanks spudcon, another great find.
spudcon Tuesday Jun 23 06:25 AM
You're welcome Spuck. BTW, a two foot snow roller with a cow inside weighs about a thousand pounds also.
capnhowdy Tuesday Jun 23 08:20 AM
the 'shop with the cows reminds me of a Chic Fil-A™ commercial.
Sundae Tuesday Jun 23 02:28 PM
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Originally Posted by capnhowdy
I wish we could get enough snow to roll down here. It's once in a blue moon.
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It does happen.
dar512 Tuesday Jun 23 02:49 PM
I thought it had something to do with smurfs.
Live and learn.
Queen of the Ryche Tuesday Jun 23 05:34 PM
I thought it was best served cold with a big fat slice of orange........
capnhowdy Tuesday Jun 23 05:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Sundae Girl
You know that's the second full moon in a month, right?
It does happen. |
I am still wrong, though. We have accumalative snow even less frequently than that.
TheMercenary Wednesday Jun 24 11:40 PM
Very Cool.
Tulip Thursday Jun 25 12:31 AM
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Originally Posted by SPUCK
Those pictures are from a mile away and they're sixty five feet high. If you look closely you can see cows and sheep embedded in them.
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xoxoxoBruce Thursday Jun 25 02:26 AM
No, they're less than 2 feet high.
ZenGum Thursday Jun 25 02:36 AM
Well, a two-foot-high cow should still be visible....
capnhowdy Thursday Jun 25 07:32 AM
Not from a mile away. HEEHEE.....
Beestie Thursday Jun 25 07:38 AM
So do ghost towns in Idaho have snow rollers blowing down the main street while the saloon doors flap in the breeze?
ZenGum Thursday Jun 25 08:02 AM
Do ghost towns in California have Bay City Rollers blowing down the main street while the saloon doors flap in the breeze?
Clodfobble Thursday Jun 25 03:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Beestie
So do ghost towns in Idaho have snow rollers blowing down the main street while the saloon doors flap in the breeze?
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Gravdigr Thursday Jun 25 03:18 PM
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Originally Posted by ZenGum
Do ghost towns in California have Bay City Rollers blowing down the main street while the saloon doors flap in the breeze?
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Shawnee123 Thursday Jun 25 03:55 PM
Dude, Bri and I both saw them in concert years ago (I was in 6th grade!) HAGGIS!
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