Snow Rollers in Washington 3/31/09

[Darren Addy]

Say goodbye to the winter of '08/'09 (we hope) with this final treat:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/otx/photo_gallery/snow_rollers.php
How cool is that?
See also: Wikipedia entry

 

[Jerry Prsha]

Say goodbye to the winter of '08/'09 (we hope) with this final treat:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/otx/photo_gallery/snow_rollers.php
How cool is that?
See also: Wikipedia entry

Thanks for sharing that.. It's pretty cool! Never heard of them before now...

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

How big are those things?

They appear like the hay bales we see all the time in the plains, just white - I can imagine they are smaller?

Would like to see a picture of these snow rolls with someone standing there for comparison.

 

[Jeff Russell]

Good day all,

How big are those things?

They appear like the hay bales we see all the time in the plains, just white - I can imagine they are smaller?

Would like to see a picture of these snow rolls with someone standing there for comparison.

The statment said 18-24 inches.

 

[John Farley]

A similar event occurred in central IL in 2003:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/events/roller/roller.php

This was the first time I had heard of them. I believe these occurred the same day and area as another rare event - SVR-warned thundersnow squalls that produced wind gusts around 60 mph.

 

[Paul Hadfield]

Hey John, you're right, there were convective snow squalls up N between Bloomington and Chicago producing TNL. It's been so long but I remember talking to either Billy Ousley or Matt Barnes and mentioning about a SVR warning being issed briefly somewhere up there. I lived in the third floor of a three story apartment in Decatur and when the squall line came through around 9-10PM, it hit like a derecho. I would estimate winds on the order of 60MPH (give or take) but what also made it unusual was instant white out conditions when previously there was no precip or mentionable wind. By the time I left for work at midnight, all was calm though I was completely unaware of the rollers till after dawn. The snow which was rolled up had been laid down earlier in the day i'm guessing as precip from the lifting warm front before the main low and subsequent cold front passage? It was as though conditions aloft were typical of spring whereas at ground level, temperatures we still at or near freezing. Very cool to see then again in this thread!

http://www.pawleewurx.com/pmh/snowrollers.html