Whats causes it to snowball?

Question

Ok, I have to explain this one. First of all, I live in Montana. So it snows ALL the time. Sometimes from October- April and has even on occasion snowed in May and June. But from time to time it will snow but it isnt really snow flakes, it is perfect round snowballs. Tiny snowballs dumping from the sky. Why?

Answer 1

That's an interesting phenomenon, one that I've never seen.

Snowflakes amassing into little balls would be similar to how hail is formed in severe thunderstorms. The temperature and pressure differentials at different altitudes will be a bit different between forming little balls and forming painful ice balls, but the concept is the same.

The high altitude air is quite cold, allowing the snowflakes to initially form. Down below, the surface air is just warm enough to rise, creating an updraft that pushes the snowflakes back to their original high altitudes. There, they comingle with other snowflakes, joining and accumulating mass, until the gravitational force of the snowball mass is greater than the updraft force that kept the snowflakes aloft at higher altitude. Once the updraft force is overcome, the little snowballs fall to earth.

Answer 2

That would be god castrating all the snowmen.