New Mexico “weed wheel”…

You’ve probably seen videos of the strange ice wheels that form in streams during colder months in northern climates. They spin slowly and mysteriously on top of the water, apparently formed by just the right combination of temperature, speed of the current and shape of the stream bank.

This morning, on our daily walk through the neighborhood and farmland surrounding our home, we found an unusual sight. It appears that the Rio Grande Irrigation District had been mowing weeds and grass along the Laguna Lateral which bisects our Mesilla Park neighborhood. As the grass and weeds fell into the ditch, they flowed with the current and through a culvert underneath McDowell Road. Just below the culvert, two eddies of water gathered up some of the weed and grass clippings and formed these two “weed wheels,” slowly spinning in the water.