American Winter Freeze Results In Some
Cool Natural Phenomena
By Meera Dolasia on January 29, 2014
CCSS NAS-4 Grades: 3-8 Word Search
On Monday, January 27th, residents of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois woke up to a special treat - Giant
snow rollers. Often described as nature's snow sculptures, the beautiful giant columns are a rare
meteorological phenomenon.
Snow rollers are essentially snowballs, which are formed when large amounts of snow gets blown along the
ground by wind. However, unlike normal snowballs, these are cylindrical in shape and mostly hollow in the
middle. That is because the inner layer which is the first to form, is often very weak and thin and prone to
blowing away, leaving behind a snow sculpture that resembles a Swiss roll or sometimes even a donut.
Last seen in this area about a decade ago, snow rollers only form under very special conditions. First, the
ground has to be icy enough so that the snow does not stick to it. Then, the snow has to be wet and at a
temperature that is close to its melting point. Also, in order for the rollers to form they have to be able
gather more snow, which means that their life has to begin at the perfect incline so that the gravitational
pull can help roll it down. Not only that, the wind conditions have to be just right. Strong winds can destroy
the fragile structure, while weak ones will not provide them with the oomph they need. It is therefore not
surprising that these nature's sculptures are rarely seen.
The snow rollers are not the only strange phenomenon caused by this year's severe winter. As the polar
vortex loosened its frigid grip on the East Coast of the United States in early January, it left behind
thousands of gigantic, spherical ice balls on the shores of Lake Michigan. The ice boulders were created
when the weather warmed and melted the ice sheet covering the lake, resulting in large chunks, that got
eroded by the waves and transformed into beautiful icy 'bowling' balls.
If that is not exciting enough, on
January 4th, residents of many cities in
Ontario, Canada were jolted awake in
the middle of the night by several loud
booms caused by a phenomenon called
cryoseism.
Also known as 'frost quakes' they occur
when temperatures drop so low that
rain that has penetrated deep
underground, freezes.
Since water expands when frozen, it
puts pressure on the rocks that lie
underneath. The stress continues to
build until the rocks finally crack under
the pressure, resulting in a slight shift
in the ground and noises that are loud
enough to rattle nerves.
1. What are all the conditions that have to be in place in
order for snow rollers to form?
2. What caused the icy balls on Lake Michigan?
3. What are 'frost quakes'?
4. What is meteorology? (You will need to look this up.)
5. Why is it important that we monitor our weather? Use details.