I've got these in my yard, first time I've seen them.
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Wind forms snow rollers
By Kevin Simpson
Pantagraph Staff
BLOOMINGTON -- Dennis Powell thought it was a bit peculiar to find his yard littered with huge snowballs Tuesday night.
There were no children around his rural Heyworth residence -- and no evidence of anyone else, for that matter.
The snow "just started rolling itself and you can see on the snow where they rolled," Powell said with a chuckle. "My yard is full of them. I have never seen anything like that in all my years."
The so-called snow rollers were created by a combination of a wet snowfall, an icy cover on existing snow and high winds.
Snow rollers begin when wind-blown snow collects as it moves across the icy surface. Ultimately, a small snowball forms and it collects more snow as it is pushed along by the wind.
Powell measured the largest roller at 14 inches tall.
There were widespread reports of snow rollers throughout Central Illinois as a cold front dumped between 1 and 4 inches of snow Tuesday night.
Only a trace fell on Bloomington-Normal. However, a top wind gust of 68 mph was measured at the McLean County Law and Justice Center.
"There was a fairly strong cold front that moved through the area," said Lucy Plahmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln.
"The big thing that was associated with the front was the wind," Plahmer said. "A lot of people woke up today and found these snow rollers. You hardly have to work hard to go out and make your own snowman."
No wind damage and only a few utility outages were reported to McLean County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency.
A mild El Ni-o -- a warming of the Pacific Ocean that changes the nation's wind patterns -- has helped push snowstorms to the south. Between now and spring's arrival March 21, temperatures are expected to be above normal with precipitation slightly below normal.
Snowfall in the Twin Cities averages 23 inches from December through March. November averages 2.2 inches of snow; December, 5.8; January, 6.6; February, 5.3; and March, 5.5.
About 12 inches of snow has fallen in the Twin Cities so far this winter, including 3 inches in February. The February average is 5.3 inches. Bloomington Normal had 10 inches of snow during the winter of 2001-2002.
A winter storm watch is expected to go into effect late today, warning of possible freezing rain as temperatures drop tonight. Plahmer said the high for today is expected to be near 40 degrees. |
