dingy Posted January 28, 2014 #1 Posted January 28, 2014 There are hundreds of these in at a soccer field I went by today at lunch. They are somewhat rare, conditions need to be in a tight range of several parameters for them to form. There are trails behind them where they rolled across ground. It was about 34 deg. F. over the weekend at times with very strong winds which caused the snow to roll and form large rolls of snow. Some are near at least 18" tall. Going to be -15 deg F tonight. Snow balls are formed naturally as chunks of snow are blown along the ground by wind, picking up material along the way, in much the same way that the large snowballs used in snowmen are made, according to information on the Internet. 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 apart; and 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. Gary http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/gdingy101/snowrollers_zps53c8e7f1.jpg http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/gdingy101/snowrollers2_zpsdd52609e.jpg
cowpuc Posted January 28, 2014 #2 Posted January 28, 2014 WOW, never seen anything like that,, thats weird... Some strange things happen with just the right conditions, dont remember if it was on here or not but there were a bunch of huge ice balls (looked like bowling balls) rolling all over a lake shore,,, just like this one - strange... On a side note Dingy, this thread brings about another name for Yammers bike (loved the one you posted )... "SLOWROLLER"...
Wade 2000 Posted January 28, 2014 #3 Posted January 28, 2014 I saw a ton of those around Columbus today and was wondering how they formed. Thanks for the education!!
Guest tx2sturgis Posted January 28, 2014 #5 Posted January 28, 2014 Thought it was a new band! No danger of Mick Jagger in this one....
MJ44 Posted January 28, 2014 #6 Posted January 28, 2014 From Emlenton, PA.....near I-80, about 70 miles north of Pittsburgh. They even explained these on the local news stations.
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