World of the Bizarre

Tumbleweed drifts engulf cars in Washington

By T.K. Randall
January 3, 2020 ·  11 comments

Some vehicles ended up completely buried in the tumbleweed. Image Credit: Twitter / Trooper C. Thorson While the sight of tumbleweed sweeping across the highway is certainly nothing unusual, being forced to avoid 30ft-tall walls of the stuff is not something that tends to happen on your average road trip.

This was the reality for hundreds of travelers on New Year's Eve however as huge quantities of tumbleweed ended up being blown onto State Highway 240 near Yakima, Washington.

The road had to be closed for ten hours while workers tried to free the stricken vehicles."In 20 years on the job, I've never seen anything like this before," said Washington State Patrol trooper Chris Thorson. "We've unofficially dubbed it 'Tumbleggedon 2020.'"

A similar incident occurred back in April 2018 when large quantities of tumbleweed swept into Victorville, California and buried some houses up to their second floor windows.

Persistent strong winds of up to 60mph have been blamed in both cases.


Source: Live Science | Comments (11)

Tags: Tumbleweed