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February 6, 2015
Q. What in the world are “snow rollers,” aka “snow logs,” “snow doughnuts,” “snow pipes,” or “snow onions”? One of the column's coauthors has seen these from his office window.
A. Unlike large snowballs for building snowmen, rollers begin as chunks of snow blown along by the wind and picking up loose wet snow as they slide on icy ground. The balls get bigger and bigger, up to a couple of feet in diameter. An alternative “engine” of movement may be simple gravity, which is why snow rollers often form in hilly areas.
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