An absolute unit of a tumbleweed was spotted rolling its way down a Simi Valley, California highway into oncoming traffic, and luckily for us, the beast was caught on video.
A Twitter, or X I guess, user posted the beefy guy with the simple caption “La madre de todas las plantas rodadoras,” which means “The mother of all tumbleweeds” in Spanish. I’ve got to agree with the poster because I’ve never seen a bushel of dead plants so big in my life. You can watch it nearly overtake an entire goddamn Toyota Corolla on its way across the road. Nature is terrifying.
The National Weather Service said the big fella was created and powered by the Santa Ana Winds, according to The New York Post. They occur when air from a region of high pressure over the dry desert flows westward toward low pressure on the coast of California.
Here’s NPR’s explanation of exactly where tumbleweeds come from and what they’re made of – because it isn’t just a big ball of hay.
First off, tumbleweeds aren’t one specific species of plant. They fall under an umbrella of noxious weeds that when dry, break off at the root, setting off on a seed-spreading expedition.
One of the most common and most problematic for crops is the Russian thistle, or Kali tragus. It is believed to have hitched a ride from Ukraine to South Dakota in a shipment of flaxseed back in the 1870s, and it has plagued the country’s dry, arid lands ever since.
Apparently, big, fat tumbleweeds may become more and more common. A 2019 study from the University of California, Riverside found that a new species of huge tumbleweed – Salsola ryanii – can grow up to six feet tall. As with all things, climate change will also play a factor in how big these guys get. As more of the country becomes hotter and drier, tumbleweed supremacy can go wild.