Rollin' On...

If you haven't checked out a photo of "snow rollers" before, there's a recent batch from up in Idaho that gives a nice look at some. Snow rollers form when a new layer of snow that has just the right temperature, density and consistency forms atop an older layer that has become hard, smooth and icy, and more rarely atop other forms of frozen ground surface, and then is buffeted by strong winds that start a few random chunks or strips of snow tumbling and then rolling along, collecting up more snow on the outside until the results look like spiral cinnamon buns or cylinders kind of like jelly rolls (I must be a little hungry while I'm writing this).

At any rate, the new photos are posted on the Spokane, WA National Weather Service site, and I've included links to a couple of other NWS pages with snow roller pictures as well. Our thanks to Susan Hudson, who brought the recent images to our attention.