Strathmore-area farmer Matt Gosling was looking out his office window one morning in mid-January when he saw something he’s never seen before — snowballs rolling across his yard all on their own “like a herd of elephants.”
“It was an awesome morning, and then all of a sudden, the wind started blowing from the northwest, and that’s when everything started moving,” said Gosling.
The snowballs ranged in size from a couple of inches to almost half a foot across.
‘Snow rollers’ are a rare phenomenon caused by the perfect mix of wet snow, icy ground cover, and high winds.
Gosling can’t say for sure how fast the wind was moving that morning, but one thing is certain. “It was gusty.”
— Jennifer Blair reports for Alberta Farmer from Red Deer.
