Winter always gives us idyllic scenery to admire and contemplate thanks to the spectacle staged by Mother Nature. When the snow falls from the sky, embracing buildings, palaces, and cities, it transforms the places we know into wonderful landscapes that enchant the eyes and warm the heart.
But those extraordinary winter postcard scenarios that we can admire in the villages, in the mountain places, and in the cities of the world, are not the only spectacles that nature puts on when there are copious and dense snowfalls.
Have you ever heard of, for example, snow rollers?
These suggestive and bizarre snow wheels that appear in some places in the world with very specific weather conditions are reminiscent of the shape and size of the snowballs we used to play with as children. Except that it was not man who created them.
Over the years it has happened several times, and in different parts of the world, that upon waking up citizens found themselves surrounded by snowballs that supported the surrounding landscape. The very curious and apparently intriguing phenomenon has been immortalized in shots that have been around the web. But the mystery has been revealed: the snow rollers were made by Mother Nature.
These snow rollers, which someone else has renamed white rolls, are part of those rare and amazing natural phenomena that make wonderful our world. The rolls are usually formed by descending downstream from the slopes with the snowy agglomerations and take on different shapes and sizes.
To move them, in this case, is the wind, which however must be strong, but not too fast, to facilitate creation. Added to these is a meteorological condition that provides for a perfect balance between ice, powdery snow, and humidity. Better still if everything occurs on a slope, so as to facilitate the formation of these rollers. That’s why snow rollers are as fascinating as they are rare.
Over the years there have been several sightings of snow wheels. In 2010, for example, the phenomenon occurred in Yeovil, Somerset, and was promptly immortalized by local citizens. Other snow rollers have been seen in Krkonoše, Venus in Pennsylvania, and in Cincinnati, Ohio and those have also been around the web through shots of local residents. There are numerous sightings of snow wheels at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
Unfortunately, we cannot know when and if the snowballs created by Mother Nature will perform in the places where we are, what we can tell you is that the phenomenon occurs mainly in areas where snowfalls are frequent and quite dense. This is the reason why some areas of Northern Europe and North America have been identified for sightings.
What is certain is that with the right weather conditions the phenomenon could occur anywhere. So eyes open and smartphone in hand, the snow has already arrived in the city.
