Strangest thing.
- Thread starter Jackalope
- Start date
Buckmaster
Senior Member
rgecko23
*Supporting Member*
After all that wind last night, I was expecting to see them & drifts when driving in to town this am. Nuttin.
huntn2
Senior Member
Finally spotted some over around Ontario while I was out and about today. Was pretty cool stuff. Never remember seeing them before but I probably just never paid much attention before today after seeing this post along with Sam's post on FB. Only seen a couple on the way to Ontario and seen more on the way home after my eyes knew what to look for. Kind of like finding that first shed or shroom of the year lol.
Here is an excerpt from our local weatherman's blog. Nice explanation. Looks like the links to pictures didn't pull up. Similar to Joe and Sam's pictures.
New post on wxmankyle
Did You See The Snow Rollers?
by wxmankyle
After a weekend home to visit some family in Northeast Ohio I noticed a very interesting thing on the side of route 30 on my drive home Monday morning back to Lima. There were what appeared to be little snowballs in groups all along the highway, some of them looking like doughnuts, some of then more like your typical snowball you roll to build a snowman.
What I didn't realize at the time was that what I was looking at was actually a pretty rare occurence! Ideal weather conditions in much of the midwest last night led to the formation of "Snow Rollers".
A Snow Roller from Marcia Phillips in Bluffton, Ohio
A Snow Roller from Marcia Phillips in Bluffton, Ohio
A group of snow rollers from John and Pat Joseph of Spencerville.
A group of snow rollers from John and Pat Joseph of Spencerville, Ohio.
This unique weather phenomena happened because of a unique order of weather conditions that happened on Sunday.
1) Snow from earlier in the weekend had formed a layer of glaze or very thin ice on top of it.
2) As temperatures warmed up into the evening snow moved into the region. Because of the warmer temperatures the snow was a wetter or more moisture laden snow. The layer of thin ice that had already formed on the previous snow allowed for a non sticky surface for the newer, wetter snow.
3) As the new snow fell onto the thin ice the winds picked up into the 30 to 40 mph range. The winds were just strong enough to peel the new coat of wetter snow like carpet and roll it along to form Snow Rollers. Had the wind been too strong, it would have simply destroyed the fragile Snow Rollers.
One of the larger pictures of a snow roller we saw, at about 24 inches in diameter! From Russell Reynolds in Lima.
One of the larger pictures of a snow roller we saw, at about 24 inches in diameter! From Russell Reynolds in Lima.
Another large Snow Roller from Brad Cotterman in Lima, Ohio.
Another large Snow Roller from Brad Cotterman in Lima, Ohio.
-Kyle
New post on wxmankyle
Did You See The Snow Rollers?
by wxmankyle
After a weekend home to visit some family in Northeast Ohio I noticed a very interesting thing on the side of route 30 on my drive home Monday morning back to Lima. There were what appeared to be little snowballs in groups all along the highway, some of them looking like doughnuts, some of then more like your typical snowball you roll to build a snowman.
What I didn't realize at the time was that what I was looking at was actually a pretty rare occurence! Ideal weather conditions in much of the midwest last night led to the formation of "Snow Rollers".
A Snow Roller from Marcia Phillips in Bluffton, Ohio
A Snow Roller from Marcia Phillips in Bluffton, Ohio
A group of snow rollers from John and Pat Joseph of Spencerville.
A group of snow rollers from John and Pat Joseph of Spencerville, Ohio.
This unique weather phenomena happened because of a unique order of weather conditions that happened on Sunday.
1) Snow from earlier in the weekend had formed a layer of glaze or very thin ice on top of it.
2) As temperatures warmed up into the evening snow moved into the region. Because of the warmer temperatures the snow was a wetter or more moisture laden snow. The layer of thin ice that had already formed on the previous snow allowed for a non sticky surface for the newer, wetter snow.
3) As the new snow fell onto the thin ice the winds picked up into the 30 to 40 mph range. The winds were just strong enough to peel the new coat of wetter snow like carpet and roll it along to form Snow Rollers. Had the wind been too strong, it would have simply destroyed the fragile Snow Rollers.
One of the larger pictures of a snow roller we saw, at about 24 inches in diameter! From Russell Reynolds in Lima.
One of the larger pictures of a snow roller we saw, at about 24 inches in diameter! From Russell Reynolds in Lima.
Another large Snow Roller from Brad Cotterman in Lima, Ohio.
Another large Snow Roller from Brad Cotterman in Lima, Ohio.
-Kyle
Joel
Senior Member
There were some on my way home outside of Centerburg in a field. I honestly wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for this thread. They weren't nearly as big as the pics posted here but the same thing. Very cool to see.
Fullbore
Senior Member
I saw an ass load of those today. Funny that Greg thought the same thing as I did. Tumble weeds of snow! Lol
I can't ever remember seeing them before but after Joe's first post I had to look em up. Today driving home from work over 170 mines I saw around 20-25 different "groups" of them. Its odd to go miles then see a group of them then nothing again for a spell. Some were 10-12 in count but a few times there must have been 40-50 in various farm fields between 79, 80 and rt 11. Thanks. I may have not noticed em driving home if they had not first showed up here.
For those of you still wondering...
" A snow roller is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which large snowballs 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.
Unlike snowballs made by people, snow rollers are typically cylindrical in shape, and are often hollow since the inner layers, which are the first layers to form, are weak and thin compared to the outer layers and can easily be blown away, leaving what looks like a doughnut or Swiss roll.[1] Snow rollers have been seen to grow as large as two feet in diameter.
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.
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."
From Wikipedia
For those of you still wondering...
" A snow roller is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which large snowballs 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.
Unlike snowballs made by people, snow rollers are typically cylindrical in shape, and are often hollow since the inner layers, which are the first layers to form, are weak and thin compared to the outer layers and can easily be blown away, leaving what looks like a doughnut or Swiss roll.[1] Snow rollers have been seen to grow as large as two feet in diameter.
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.
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."
From Wikipedia
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Archertl
Senior Member
Man, I've miss so much cool shit this winter. Snow rollers, boiling water that turns to snow, and the Ohio river freezing from shore to shore.
![securedownload[1] (38).jpg](https://theohiooutdoors.com/data/attachments/17/17240-7406fa3f3b3399c4860a116f6c9571a4.jpg "securedownload[1] (38).jpg")
![securedownload[1] (36).jpg](https://theohiooutdoors.com/data/attachments/17/17239-e50d9a66c3be06c2cefac855d11cd4cd.jpg "securedownload[1] (36).jpg")
![securedownload[2] (20).jpg](https://theohiooutdoors.com/data/attachments/17/17241-1d24c7b16dda272d84b1b56dab9005cd.jpg "securedownload[2] (20).jpg")
![securedownload[2] (19).jpg](https://theohiooutdoors.com/data/attachments/17/17238-c0072c12a7e0914a4377029cf1c40194.jpg "securedownload[2] (19).jpg")
![securedownload[2] (21).jpg](https://theohiooutdoors.com/data/attachments/17/17242-b71417d06e1f77514ca9f622608d41a8.jpg "securedownload[2] (21).jpg")
My buddy and I were out this morning checking my snares and took these pics of some snow rollers.Their were a lot of them out there.Pretty cool looking.