We don't need no shovel let the muthaf**ka melt! Melt muthaf**ka, melt!!

January 29, 2013 4:11 AM

Sometimes, there's nothing better to do after a snowstorm than to watch the snow slowly slide off the roof. Do you get a thrill at that moment when gravity trumps friction, and a large slab frees itself, landing on the ground below in a big WHUMPF? Then please enjoy this curation of YouTubery documenting the anticipation and beauty that is the Roof Avalanche!

Sometimes you have to start the avalanche yourself, or your roof might collapse.

WAYS TO REMOVE SNOW:

(A) THE CONVENTIONAL WAY, using (yawwwn) a tool called...
❄ The Avalanche
❄ The Snow Barber
❄ The Avalanche... again... zzzzz

...or (B) THE FUN AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WAY, using techniques with names I just made up on the spot, such as:
❄ The Barn Slider
❄ The Stand-under-er
❄ The Broomstick
❄ The Jar-Lid Surfin' Crow! (is the slowest but funnest way)
❄ The Shovel
❄ The Two-Person Shovel
❄ The Ski Pole
❄ The Roof Surfer
❄ The Roof Surfer II: now with 1000% more loud music
❄ The Roof Hoe
❄ The Jump


(C) MISCELLANEOUS or LET NATURE DO ITS JOB but WATCH OUT EITHER WAY

❄ [NSFW: language] ❄ A close call in Scotland ❄ A close call in Grantown-on-Spey ❄ Don't Poke The Bear [NSFW: Language] ❄ Hazard to pedestrians in Naas ❄ Watching the rain gutter get demolished ❄ Chillin' outside Mickey D's ❄ Off the roof of the Xscape in Milton Keynes ❄ Nothing happens in this one, though I totally wish it'd landed on the woman shooting the video. ❄ Stalking the elusive Colorado Roof Glacier ❄ Let's watch this one again in slow motion. Now in reverse. ❄ Captured by surveillance camera ❄ Like waiting for ketchup to flow ❄ Somewhere in New Hampshire with a great view ❄ The white zone is for loading and unloading only ❄ Walgreens Manager won't fall victim ❄ A view from the side ❄ kitteh! ❄ Temperature: 39ºF ❄ Bro tries to coin a new term ❄ The neighbor's roof ❄ The Big Chunk ❄ [Turn the volume down on this one] ❄ Careful what you wish for, kids

posted by not_on_display (30 comments total)

Snow way I'm gonna look at all these links.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:18 AM on January 29, 2013 [2 favorites]

"Let the Muthaf**ka Melt" is Rhode Island's go-to snow management policy. I admit I am a little bitter about this.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:21 AM on January 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

That second link is hilarious. What language are they speaking? I heard a "One two" at one point, but recognized nothing else.

Anyway, better than snow falling off a roof is working on alternately draining and damming slush puddles upstream of storm drains in the spring.
posted by DU at 4:25 AM on January 29, 2013

Thanks for the linktastic post; great stuff.

Also apparently a hobby of MetaFilter mods [1] [2].
posted by Wordshore at 4:28 AM on January 29, 2013 [3 favorites]

Here's how they do it in Stockholm.
posted by three blind mice at 4:29 AM on January 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

What language are they speaking?

I'm guessing Urdu. Murree is in Pakistan, in the province of Punjab, and the northwest of the Himilayas.

Also apparently a hobby of MetaFilter mods

I was there for those pictures! It's kinda what inspired me to post this.
posted by not_on_display at 4:57 AM on January 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

I live in the mid west where today's predicted high is 65 degrees fahrenheit. My daughter and I feel like we are getting cheated out of a proper winter this year and last. Hardly any snow at all, and when it does snow, it isn't enough to play in. Three years ago we had a winter storm after which we built a snowman and made ice cream out of the snow.

Come back winter, please.
posted by Sailormom at 5:21 AM on January 29, 2013

Woke up to snow this morning, but now sad to realize it's not nearly enough. The WUMPH one was so satisfying!
posted by mochapickle at 5:25 AM on January 29, 2013

Wow, three blind mice, you guys do it right over there!

would love to see Stockholm...one of these days!
posted by yoga at 5:51 AM on January 29, 2013

Also, I love the kitteh! link!!!
posted by yoga at 5:56 AM on January 29, 2013

When the snow slides off our steel roof come spring, it's always a little scary-sounding.
posted by Kitteh at 6:00 AM on January 29, 2013

When I was in school I saw a guy walking beside the athletic centre of my university get knocked down by a roof avalanche. The best part* was that a couple of people across the street saw the snow start to slide and yelled at him, which made him stop walking and look up at the roof just as he got hit. Good thing it hadn't been an icicle.

* it was funny because he was okay
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:05 AM on January 29, 2013

This is why I stay indoors. Things might fall from the sky, onto you.
posted by jbickers at 6:12 AM on January 29, 2013

I've wondered about what a roof avalanche might look like with unconventional roofs like that of Seattle's EMP. Would the curves create radical "chutes" that intensify the action? Would the coefficient of friction be lower on a smooth metal roof?
posted by Tube at 6:14 AM on January 29, 2013

jbickers: even inside, spiders could fall on you. Or if you live in Australia, you could have an indoor infestation of drop bears.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:14 AM on January 29, 2013

Come back winter, please.

Yeah, it was 11 degrees last week and 66F today and all the snow has transformed into mud.
posted by octothorpe at 6:15 AM on January 29, 2013

Nothing happens in this one, though I totally wish it'd landed on the woman shooting the video.

Correct, in every particular.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:19 AM on January 29, 2013

I like how you took the time to make sure the links started at the right time in the videos. Your attention to that little but important detail is very much appreciated and makes the whole post easy to dig through.

I wish others were as careful and thorough.

Thank you!
posted by entropos at 6:29 AM on January 29, 2013 [6 favorites]

This is a great post, I'm going to be browsing through this all day. Light snow here in Calgary today, but it's -25C and I've heard tell of ice-giants on the C-train.
posted by arcticseal at 7:18 AM on January 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

Come back winter, please.

The last two years have been a disaster for the Arrowhead of Minnesota. Very little snow - the snowmobilers, skiers, and other winter sportsfolk have stayed away. Last years' sled dog marathon was cancelled and it's been postponed this year in the hopes that we'll have enough snow in March to hold it. These warm, snowfree winters are wreaking havoc on the local economy...and bumming this snowshoer out big time. I've only gotten out my snowshoes three days in the last two years, and two of those days were in the BWCA where they actually still have a decent snowpack.
posted by Elly Vortex at 7:41 AM on January 29, 2013

I wish I had a nickle for every person in Toronto I've heard praise the last two (largely snow-free) winters as some sort of wonderful blessing we should all give thanks for.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:54 AM on January 29, 2013

I watched The Stand-Under-er with dread, assuming he'd be killed. On my roof that overhang would be 50% ice.
posted by MtDewd at 8:16 AM on January 29, 2013

Watched them all now. That was fun!

❄ The Roof Surfer II: now with 1000% more loud music

Personal favorite of your comprehensive collection. Partially as it's not just any loud music, but {grins} Zelda music reinterpreted.
posted by Wordshore at 8:29 AM on January 29, 2013

The roof surfers are why I wear a climbing harness and use a dynamic rope when I shovel. That and the 25' drop. Metal ribbed roofs are slippery.
posted by MtDewd at 8:36 AM on January 29, 2013

For the full Surround-Sound effect, you want to be standing under a metal-roofed open-sided pole barn when both sides of the roof start their simultaneous slow-motion snow slide.
posted by HotToddy at 8:47 AM on January 29, 2013

The Roof Avalanche is my favorite!
posted by francesca too at 8:57 AM on January 29, 2013

Having now watched all these movies, I can say without a doubt that this is the definitive snow slide FPP of all time.

Also, the Big Chunk put me in mind of Double Rainbows.
posted by arcticseal at 12:28 PM on January 29, 2013

Roof Surfer II looks like Justin Bieber with a GoPro, haha.

Delightful all around!
posted by sararah at 1:45 PM on January 29, 2013

Nobody loves a good roof avalanche like a guy who sells gutters.
posted by Foam Pants at 3:34 PM on January 29, 2013

We've had so little snow this year, there is little chance of roof avalanches. :(
posted by deborah at 3:31 PM on January 30, 2013