Cariboo Archives - Country Living in a Cariboo Valley

Want to see the “mother of all” snow curls? Do you know what a snow curl is? Maybe you know it by another name, but if you live anywhere where there is a lot of snow during Winter, you’re probably familiar with them.

Snow falls and lands on the roof. Maybe the weather warms up and the snow slides off the roof. But if it doesn’t warm up, and instead turns colder, the bottom layer of that snow will turn to ice.

Once it turns to ice, it really has to warm up in order for the snow to melt enough to slide off the roof. When it does warm up, you’ve got the perfect storm brewing.

A storm of snow curls, that is. Some of them hang around for weeks. Here are just a few of the ones at our Valley homestead.

A little baby snow curl begins to grow…

A snow curl in the making. A layer of snow starts to melt in the winter afternoon sun and the snow just starts to slide. Then, it cools down in late afternoon and this happens.

And this….

A good layer of snow on the roof of the woodroom.

That layer of snow melts enough to start to curl, but it’s not warm enough to have the snow actually slide off the roof.

An awesome snow curl hanging off the back of the woodroom.

Here’s the mother of all snow curls…it surpasses anything we have ever seen in the Valley. This is the snow on the porch side of the house (the side that looks over the garden and pastures. You can see the lines from the metal roof! Pretty cool, eh?

Here’s a picture of the back of our woodshed. The way the snow curls down like that looks so cool.

We were astounded our first winter here – we grew up on the Coast which means lots of rain but not a lot of snow. Our house here in the Cariboo has quite a steep roof to help shed the snow.

But we had never heard that moment when all that snow lets go and slides down the roof! S

cared the wits out of me the first time it happened; it sounded like an airplane engine. Even now, although I am used to it, it startles me.

And if we look out the window in time, we can see huge sheets of snow falling to the ground. It scared our dog too and he learned to not lay around outside too close to the house.

A few years ago we had an ice storm that resulted in a layer of ice on our roof, followed by whatever snow had fallen.

There was at least 3 feet of snow on the roof and because of that thick layer of ice, the snow wasn’t able to slide off the roof.

One day, after enough warm weather, the snow on the roof above the living room finally let go. Our dog was in the house with me, and all of a sudden he looked at me.

A couple seconds later, I heard the rumbling and then watched the snow dropping.

I brought Sir out on the porch to show him the chunks of ice and snow. I was smiling saying “It’s OK bud, it’s all good!”

Until, I looked over the side of the porch and realized the whole stem and transponder for my internet satellite was sticking out of the snow.

Check this out. The snow and ice coming off the roof had so much force behind it that it neatly severed the arm clean across!

A good reason to stay away from buildings that have snow on their roof. I would hate to think what could have happened if a person or Sirhad been standing too close to the house.

You can hear the snow getting ready to slide off, IF you are inside the house. If you’re outside however, you won’t hear it starting to let go.

So remember, if you have a lot of snow on your roof, don’t walk too close to the house on those warm sunny Winter afternoons!

The Mother of All Snow Curls

Snow Curls and Snow Shedding

How to Preserve Garlic in Oil – and Other Ways to Store Garlic

Easy Pickled Brussels Sprouts Recipe (Water Bath Canning)

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