Snow Rollers: Will We See Them Again?

JEFFERSON CO., Pa. (EYT) – Seven years ago, in January 2014, residents in our area awakened to find some odd snow formations strewn across local yards and fields.

PHOTO: Snow rollers in Clarion County. Captured by Bill Mushrush of Mush Media.

Often referred to as snow rollers, snow doughnuts, or even snow bales, these self-rolling, hollow snowballs form naturally when chunks of snow are blown along the ground by wind, picking up additional snow along the way.

When these natural oddities were seen widely in our area, they caused quite a buzz, with people sharing photos of fields littered with snow rollers all across social media.

According to the National Weather Service, snow rollers are somewhat rare, owing to the particular set of conditions necessary for their creation.

“For snow to be ripped up from a flat surface by itself that way, you need some pretty windy conditions,” Jenna Lake, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, told exploreClairon.com.

“It also requires that you have a good, fresh snow base to begin with, probably at least several inches already on the ground.”

According to Lake, the type of snow is also important to the formation of snow rollers.

“You need packing snow, or snow that would easily stick together to make a snowman.”

Another thing integral to the formation of the kind of snow rollers that were seen in our area seven years ago is the right kind of space for them to form.

“You need large open spaces without a lot of trees to bring the wind speed down,” Lake noted.

While our local area, with many wide, open fields available, offers some ideal geography, it is up to Mother Nature to supply the right weather for these unusual formations.

Lake noted that an ideal combination would likely be a few inches of the right kind of snow followed by a low-pressure system moving out and creating some substantial wind.

“You just need a lot of these conditions to come together at the right time.”

While snow rollers remain rare, Lake also said that you can never rule them out when you have a low-pressure system in the vicinity being followed by windy conditions.

Looking forward through the weekend into next week, that perfect combination of conditions may not be likely, but it could be possible.

Forecasters are currently tracking a weather system that should bring some snow to our area Sunday through Tuesday, including some possible lake effect snow.

While that system is still too far out to accurately predict how much snow we may see, Lake noted that there are strong indicators we may head into the early part of next week with a couple of inches of snow on the ground, followed by a low-pressure system rolling into the area.

Could this system set up just the right conditions to see snow rollers here again?

Only time will tell.


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