Snow Rollers What a Treat

Poor photo of snow roller 

Today we enjoyed our first ski of the season on the fresh powder of yesterday's snowfall. No wind, a bit of sun filtering through the clouds, and our skijor dogs glad to be in the harness. That should have been enough of a treat to make us glad we got out of bed this morning. But a rich bonus were the snow balls we passed -- like the snow trolls had been having a snowball fight. 

No tracks had crossed the lake yet but here were these snowballs and the traces in the snow where they had rolled through the powder perfect snow.  Some softball size others as big as basketballs.

Here was a white carpet of perfect snow and across the surface, hundreds of balls of snow cascaded like spilled pearls. The flat light didn't allow for very good pictures, but they do show the size and shape as well as the their tracks. 

I did a little research —— thanks Google and wikipedia—— and found that these are called snow rollers.  

  

According to Wikipedia: 

A snow roller is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which large snowballs are formed naturally as chunks of snow are blown along the ground by wind, picking up material along the way, in much the same way that the large snowballs used in snowmen are made.

On parts of the lake we saw these winter wonders blown across acres of lake surface. Just another day of wonder on Bear Lake. One more thing to be thankful for.  It doesn't need to be Thanksgiving for me to give thanks.