Tumbleweed is sprawling across sidewalks. It is blowing across freeways. It is stacked up - feet high - against homes in Utah and Nevada.
The masses upon masses of prickly tumbleweed are more fallout from severe weather sweeping the Western United States, in which wind gusts over 60 mph destroyed infrastructure, downed trees and power lines, and caused widespread outages and road closures.
Some called it the tumble takeover. Others referred to it as tumblemageddon.
Armed with brooms, shovels and rakes, residents in the city of South Jordan in Salt Lake County, Utah, reportedly ventured out into the streets this weekend - some with protective gloves and several layers of clothing amid low temperatures - as they attempted to brush the streets free from the spiky invaders.
“We’ve had a few tumbleweeds, but nothing like this,” John Young told local station KSL TV. “It’s absolutely crazy.”
Young said he woke up Saturday to find his entire front porch covered in the spiky weeds. “There’s nothing to do but laugh.”
The city of South Jordan in a Facebook update detailed several locations where people could dispose of tumbleweeds that landed on their property. “Our Streets crews are running the dumpsters to the landfill as soon as they get full and bringing them back,” the post said. City officials also rolled in, driving specialist equipment through the streets to clear the weeds.
“This is not our first tumblemageddon,” Rachel Van Cleave, communications manager for South Jordan told the station.
Tumbleweeds also swept the city of Eagle Mountain, Utah, covering the streets “like roadblocks,” as one social media user pointed out.
City officials urged residents not to push the tumbleweeds into the street, adding that this would probably create traffic safety issues. “Eagle Mountain residents may have noticed the presence of tumbleweeds roaming their neighborhoods,” read a post shared to the city’s official Facebook page over the weekend. “This is a friendly reminder that property owners are responsible for clearing unwanted tumbleweeds from their property.”
Residents were instead asked to retrieve a free pass to a landfill, though officials said that if people were “experiencing the presence of thousands of tumbleweeds,” they should submit an issue through the city’s residents portal on its mobile app.
The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City said in a tweet that Saturday was a “remarkable day for wind,” while police there said they had been receiving storm-related calls and people should not approach downed utility lines.
As of Monday, more than 10,000 people in California were without power, along with some 7,920 people in Louisiana and around 2,600 in Utah.
According to the Natural History Museum in Britain, the plant, also known as “Russian thistle” or “wind witch,” arrived in North America around 150 years ago. Tumbleweeds, native to dry and semi-dry regions throughout Europe and central Asia, are thought to have arrived in North America in the 1870s when its seeds tucked inside a containment of flaxseed imported from what was then the Russian Empire, according to the museum.
The ball-shaped plant has “needle-like leaves” and can grow to over a meter tall before it breaks away from its root, beginning to roll wherever the wind takes it, the museum said. Though the plant is dead, it disperses living seeds as it tumbles, allowing it to “spread prolifically.”
The museum notes that tumbleweed is also “particularly flammable” and risks facilitating the spread of wildfires. It said tumbleweeds can also cause traffic issues and, due to its potent allergen, breathing issues for people with allergies.