Over the weekend, parts of upstate New York woke up to one of the craziest winter scenes they’ve seen in some time.
Scattered across open fields near Rochester were dozens of strange, hollow snow cylinders—some small, some surprisingly large—sitting on the ground like frozen tumbleweeds.
The rare phenomenon is known as snow rollers, and they appeared after the massive winter storm that ripped through New York State with heavy snow, strong winds, and near-perfect conditions.
Snow rollers are essentially snowballs made by nature itself.
Instead of being packed by hand, they form when wind and gravity roll a thin layer of sticky snow across a slick surface, causing it to curl in on itself and grow as it moves.
The result is a hollow, cylindrical shape that often looks like a donut, a Swiss roll cake, or a hay bale carved from snow.
Residents in places like Chili, a suburb of Rochester, reported seeing dozens of them scattered across fields overnight—an unusual sight even for longtime upstate New Yorkers.
Meteorologists consider snow rollers a rare winter phenomenon because they only form under very specific “Goldilocks” conditions.
First, there has to be a thin layer of wet, sticky snow sitting on top of an icy or hard-packed base. The snow needs to be moist enough to cling to itself, but not so heavy that it sticks to the ground.
Then, steady winds—often around 30 miles per hour—have to give the snow just enough of a push to get it rolling. Temperatures usually hover right around freezing, allowing the snow to hold its shape without melting or crumbling apart.
As the snow rolls, the inner layers are often fragile and blow out, which is why many snow rollers end up hollow in the center. You can sometimes even see faint tracks behind them, where the top layer of snow was peeled straight off the ground.
Because they need wide-open space and uninterrupted wind, snow rollers tend to show up in farm fields, open hills, frozen lakes, or large flat areas—exactly the kind of landscape found throughout upstate New York.
They’re sometimes called snow donuts, snow bales, or wind snowballs, and while they’ve been spotted in places like Canada, Scotland, and Norway, sightings in New York are rare enough that they often make headlines when they happen.
For those lucky enough to see them in person, the effect is unmistakable. From a distance, they can look like debris or rolled-up trash bags. Up close, they reveal delicate layers of snow stacked into perfect spirals—brief, fragile sculptures that usually disappear as soon as temperatures rise or the wind shifts.