Attack of the Giant Tumbleweeds

Obvious statement: The wind blows a lot in West Texas.

Another obvious statement: There are a lot of tumbleweeds in West Texas.

The little cold front that blew through here on Tuesday that brought us some nice, tranquil snow flakes that violently blew across the sky like millions of tiny white pieces of Styrofoam really brought some wind. The wind was straight out of the north. Let me reiterate (and this is mainly for those of you who do not live in West Texas): when the wind blows out here, it REALLY blows. Wind speeds of 10-20 mph are considered "breezy" days. They go virtually unnoticed by weathermen and regional inhabitants alike.

When they forecast wind, that usually means it's going to blow at least 30 mph, with gusts often up to (and not limited to) 50-60 mph.

There's nothing to block it out here folks. Nothing. And when it's cold, it cuts like a knife.

With that being said, I saw something really funny when this front moved through. A large crowd of tumbleweeds had gathered in the banks of the overpass of I-27, which runs very near our office. I mean there was a large pile of these things.

The winds started blowing straight out of the north, which was just enough to push this large pile of tumbleweeds out of their "nest" so that they individually rolled south up the entrance ramp onto the interstate. Hilarious. I witnessed tumbleweeds playing a game of follow the leader.

Meanwhile, we have a fence that divides the office property from a bordering field to the north. On our side of the fence is a well manicured lawn. On the field side of the fence is a baron, prickly, sticker-filled, tumbleweed-breeding field. When the wind started up on Tuesday, the tumbleweeds that didn't merge onto the interstate piled up on the fence line like a pile of marshmallows.

*On another note, I need to explain a correction to yesterday's post. The economic impact of the WNFR in Las Vegas is $70 million in non-gambling money, not a meek $7 million. That's a rather substantial piece of information that makes my story from yesterday make more sense.