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Owlsey - "Owlsey" (1999 - Giant records) - again...... My Photographs You like photos? I love taking them. Click here, if you wanna see some of my work
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Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2003 - 2:56 p.m. Take a look at the objects (on the baseball diamond) in the picture below:
(Hard to believe Codeman�s first baseball game of his senior year will be on this field in about 6 weeks, isn�t it?) Although they look like the work of tiny people who were attempting to make tiny snowmen, the many objects seen on the ground have a technical term (according to the local television station�s meteorologist) : Snow Rollers. As in Jelly Rolls. How did these things end up covering the ground in every open area here in Mohall? The bizarre turn the weather took last evening had a lot to do with their formation. We had the soft, fluffy snow on the ground from the night before. When I woke up yesterday afternoon, the National Weather Service had issued a blowing snow advisory. It stated that the incoming cold front would bring with it strong winds, with gust reaching 50 mph. Visibilities would be less than � mile during the strongest gust, and that travel would be hazardous. Nothing unusual with that forecast. It happens to us all the time here in Mohall: first, a small snowstorm passes through the area, dropping an inch or two of snow. Behind the front, cold Arctic air settles in for a couple of days, with strong wind moving the new snow around just enough to keep us at work for a few more days. At least, that was what the though would happen, all the way up until 7 pm. I had already been given the call to come to work because of the potential drifting. As the three other guys and I waited to start our shift, something really odd happened. The local radio station interrupted their broadcast with the emergency weather sound that usually only comes with two things: tornados and severe thunderstorms. Couldn�t be either of those in February, could it? It was only 34� outside, after all. It was. The statement said �A severe thunderstorm WARNING is in effect for the following counties (names of three local counties, including ours)- At 7:15 pm, Doppler radar read a severe thunderstorm in Bogan County. This storm is moving to the southeast at 55 mph (!), and will effect the towns of (blah blah blah) by 7:30 pm. Lightning (!), heavy rain or snow, and sustained wind speeds up to 75 miles per hour can be expected with this storm. Take shelter where available. Whaaaaaaa? There wasn�t even a mention of any more precipitation when I left the house. Now we are about to be hit by the winter thunderstorm to end all winter thunderstorms? We went out to our trucks, and were immediately hit by the increased wind speeds. I could barely open my truck�s door! Rain mixed with very wet snow started falling, along with the high winds ,making driving to my route a real treat. By the time I got to my route, the rain/snow mix had ended. The whole �wet� part of the front lasted no more than 15 minutes. But by the time I reached my route, there were already a couple of wind-blown semis in the ditches, and slick pavement everywhere. Gordo had already called in the rest of our crew, along with snowbirds, to cover all the routes. By 9 pm, the winds had already died down. The pavement was blown dry by the winds before the temperatures dropped enough to freeze. We were able to send all of the extra guys home at Midnight, keeping just enough of us (the original 4) to cover the various areas that were still coated with ice and snow from earlier in the day. The blowing and drifting snow, with visibilities down to � mile? Didn�t happen because of the rain. It put a cap over most of the snow, keeping it from moving around much. It also was the cause of the snow rolls in the photos today. The local meteorologist explained how these things form on the morning news. Seems that any small object sticking up above the smooth surface of the snow was grabbed by the extremely strong winds we had around 7:30 last night, causing the surrounding snow to roll over. This grabbed the next wet snow, causing it to roll again. This process continued until the snow either came to rest against some other object, or until it became to heavy to turn over once again. These things are completely hollow in the middle, and are much longer than they are round (think of one of those old hand muffs women carried, years ago, to keep their fingers warm). This photo shows the detail pretty well:
Most of these snow rollers are about the diameter of a softball, but many in the more open areas reach the size of a Galapagos Island Sea Turtle. Or something like that. Big, anyway. One last shot:
I think it shows you the clump-clump-clump way that they were formed. These things were already there when I reached my route last night. They had to form in the few minutes after the rain had fell, but before the really strong winds had died down. I have worked for NDDOT for over 20 years now, and I hadn�t seen anything like them before last night. Hadn�t seen them in my entire 42+ years, for that matter��
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