Tumbleweeds overrun Utah neighborhood following strong winds
ByZachary Rosenthal, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Apr 22, 2022 2:05 PM EST
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Updated Apr 22, 2022 2:05 PM EST
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Although they're an icon of western movies and the Old West, tumbleweeds are not a native part of the American landscape.
Residents of Eagle Mountain, Utah, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, woke up on Tuesday to find that a strong windstorm had brought an avalanche of tumbleweeds into their city, UPI reported.
Thankfully for local residents, Eagle Mountain is used to dealing with tumbleweed invasions. Tyler Maffitt, Eagle Mountain's communications manager, told Fox 13 News that tumbleweeds tend to fly into the city twice per year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
In 2018, the city made headlines for setting up a drop-off zone for residents to dispose of tumbleweeds that had blown onto their property, accumulating into massive, obstructive piles.
"We often handle and oversee the disposal of multiple tons of tumbleweeds. You don’t quite understand how much that is until you are in the process of cleaning it up," Maffit said.
Some residents watched the tumbleweeds blow into the area, not realizing that their properties were about to get buried.
"And we just saw this huge dirt wall coming our way, and that's when the tumbleweeds pivoted and we came under attack," Jason Lewis, who watched the huge piles of tumbleweeds come directly toward his Eagle Mountain property, told KSL News.
The city of Eagle Mountain will allow people to apply for a burn permit to remove the tumbleweeds, which is a quick, albeit slightly risky way for residents to eliminate the tumbleweed problem in their yards. Some residents have also turned to artsier, less destructive solutions, Maffit told Fox 13.
Dry ball of tumble weed in the drought area of outback Australia
Vicki Smith/Getty Images
“One of the things that our residents have often done is they will put the tumbleweeds on Etsy and sell them as an interior design item, and folks have found some success there,” Maffit said.
With windy and dry conditions common across much of the West, tumbleweeds are asomewhat persistent problem. This past December, one New Mexico woman captured an amazing video of a tumbleweed stampede, with hundreds of tumbleweeds marching over the road she was traveling on.
Australia also deals with the pesky, wind-driven plants. A "freakish" amount of tumbleweed, known locally as "witch grass" or "hairy panic," trapped some residents of Hillside, Australia, in their homes in December 2020.
"It's created this grass storm," Margaret Prosaic, a Hillside resident, said. "And it's just completely taken over our back yard, our front yard -- as you can see."
"Not in the 15 years we've been here, we've never seen this sort of thing happen," Naomi Gauci, a resident of Hillside, told 7News Australia.
Residents in Hillside, Australia, stand in waist-deep tumbleweed that overran the neighborhood after a strong windstorm blew through the area. (SEVEN NETWORK/NINE NETWORK via Reuters)
Despite being found in America and Australia, the plants that spawn tumbleweeds are native to neither country. They are actually an invasive weed known as Russian thistle and were brought to the United States by accident in 1873 when Russian immigrants brought flax seeds that were contaminated with the plant species.
Once the wind gets strong enough, the tumbleweed feature can detach from the rest of the plant, dispersing upwards of 250,000 seeds as it bounces and flies across the arid desert environment, allowing it to rapidly spread across the country.
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News / Weather News
Tumbleweeds overrun Utah neighborhood following strong winds
By Zachary Rosenthal, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Apr 22, 2022 2:05 PM EST | Updated Apr 22, 2022 2:05 PM EST
Although they're an icon of western movies and the Old West, tumbleweeds are not a native part of the American landscape.
Residents of Eagle Mountain, Utah, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, woke up on Tuesday to find that a strong windstorm had brought an avalanche of tumbleweeds into their city, UPI reported.
Thankfully for local residents, Eagle Mountain is used to dealing with tumbleweed invasions. Tyler Maffitt, Eagle Mountain's communications manager, told Fox 13 News that tumbleweeds tend to fly into the city twice per year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
In 2018, the city made headlines for setting up a drop-off zone for residents to dispose of tumbleweeds that had blown onto their property, accumulating into massive, obstructive piles.
"We often handle and oversee the disposal of multiple tons of tumbleweeds. You don’t quite understand how much that is until you are in the process of cleaning it up," Maffit said.
Some residents watched the tumbleweeds blow into the area, not realizing that their properties were about to get buried.
"And we just saw this huge dirt wall coming our way, and that's when the tumbleweeds pivoted and we came under attack," Jason Lewis, who watched the huge piles of tumbleweeds come directly toward his Eagle Mountain property, told KSL News.
The city of Eagle Mountain will allow people to apply for a burn permit to remove the tumbleweeds, which is a quick, albeit slightly risky way for residents to eliminate the tumbleweed problem in their yards. Some residents have also turned to artsier, less destructive solutions, Maffit told Fox 13.
Dry ball of tumble weed in the drought area of outback Australia
“One of the things that our residents have often done is they will put the tumbleweeds on Etsy and sell them as an interior design item, and folks have found some success there,” Maffit said.
With windy and dry conditions common across much of the West, tumbleweeds are a somewhat persistent problem. This past December, one New Mexico woman captured an amazing video of a tumbleweed stampede, with hundreds of tumbleweeds marching over the road she was traveling on.
Australia also deals with the pesky, wind-driven plants. A "freakish" amount of tumbleweed, known locally as "witch grass" or "hairy panic," trapped some residents of Hillside, Australia, in their homes in December 2020.
"It's created this grass storm," Margaret Prosaic, a Hillside resident, said. "And it's just completely taken over our back yard, our front yard -- as you can see."
"Not in the 15 years we've been here, we've never seen this sort of thing happen," Naomi Gauci, a resident of Hillside, told 7News Australia.
Residents in Hillside, Australia, stand in waist-deep tumbleweed that overran the neighborhood after a strong windstorm blew through the area. (SEVEN NETWORK/NINE NETWORK via Reuters)
Despite being found in America and Australia, the plants that spawn tumbleweeds are native to neither country. They are actually an invasive weed known as Russian thistle and were brought to the United States by accident in 1873 when Russian immigrants brought flax seeds that were contaminated with the plant species.
Once the wind gets strong enough, the tumbleweed feature can detach from the rest of the plant, dispersing upwards of 250,000 seeds as it bounces and flies across the arid desert environment, allowing it to rapidly spread across the country.
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