{AMISH COMMUNIT Y NE WS} Vol. 6 No 2
Feb. 19, 2014
Snow Rollers By Jacquie Foote Son-in-law Kirk who grew up in Nebraska’s farm country says he has seen them two times in his life. Well, that’s two times more than I had seen them, so, when I awoke in the morning of Jan. 28 and looked out the window, I wasn’t sure what I was seeing in the field by our woods. From a distance, I couldn’t tell if I was looking at some sort of animal tracks ... or a number of random snow mounds. A field closer to the house revealed they were snow balls (sorta), varying in size, not exactly round (some looked like small white tree stumps) and scattered as if by a giant hand. Thanks to a report from meteorologists, I now know these were “snow rollers” (so named because of the way they are formed) also called “snow doughnuts” (so called because they are hollow.) They are rare because it takes special conditions for them to exist. The last time there were snow rollers anywhere around here was 10 years ago when some formed in Pennsylvania. The short description of how they come to be is that they are formed when gusty winds roll snow along the ground, similar to how snow might be rolled to create a snowman. The result, however, is typically cylindrical and hollow.
But, considering all the wind and snow we have around here, if that was all it took, snow rollers would be commonplace. The whole story is that they require very specific conditions. First, the ground must be covered by a layer of ice, then there must be wet, loose snow on top. The temperature must be near freezing. Next, the winds need to be strong enough to get the snow rolling, but not so strong that they dismantle the weak inner layers of the roller. Because they are hollow inside and usually not tightly packed they cannot be picked up. They lie where they ended up when the wind left them. Sometimes, you can see the tracks where they rolled along the ground. As for size, we saw some nearly the size of basketballs, and others small enough to be mistaken for ping-pong balls. Perhaps sometime on another winter’s day there will be the right balance of light snow, firm winds and cold temperatures, and snow rollers will once again sweep into yards and fields here in Geauga. I don’t know about you, but I will be on the lookout for them!
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