Posted on 01/08/2010 6:27:18 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Rare self-rolling giant snow balls found in UK
They may look like winter's answer to crop circles, but these mysterious snow rolls are in fact a rare natural phenomenon usually found only in the world's most remote and frozen regions.
By Heidi Blake
Published: 9:45PM GMT 08 Jan 2010
The rare snow rolls are formed by a combination of strong winds and fresh, moist snow Photo: Ron Trevett
Also known as snowrollers, snow bales and snow doughnuts, they form mostly in unusual conditions created by a precise combination of snow, ice, wind, temperature and moisture on the prairies of North America.
But this week's frozen weather has allowed the snow cylinders to make a freak appearance in the UK.
Ron Trevett, 55, and his wife Aileen, 54, readers of The Daily Telegraph, were stunned when they stumbled across the mysterious formations as they walked their dogs in a field near their home in Yeovil, Somerset.
"We saw them from a distance on the ridge of the field, and we thought some kids had been playing up there and making giant snowballs," said Mr Trevett.
"But when we got up there we saw there were no footprints and there were hundreds of them – too many for children to have done it. We realised it must have been the wind."
Mr Trevett, a builder, said he and his wife felt privileged to have witnessed such a rare phenomenon. "We feel very lucky. I'm the wrong side of fifty and I've never seen anything like it in my life. We were gobsmacked to look at them there in the sunlight. It was a really impressive sight, and I took some pictures so other people could share it," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Cool.
here in IN i have seen these twice . they are so neat. the last time it happened the school bus driver stopped her bus so the kids could take pictures of them and get a closer look. my son was amazed. partly by the snow and partly by the bus driver acting like a normal curious human.
lol.. i knew it, i thought it was only me who thinks like this.
now thats a snow ball :)
Another sign of AGW.
.
Thanks potlatch
Roll your own!
never saw these! thanks!
LOL!
When my son’s were young, they thought snow men were just too common, so they built a snow toilet in our front yard. Looked real good when they put the toilet seat on it....
We always built mountains to be King of. We also made Fort walls to defend in snowball fights.
Makes a person wonder if this is how man first saw the use of a wheel.
Snow tires for the Flintstones.
LOL... little green men love shredded wheat!
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