You Know Winter Is Coming When These Tumbleweeds Pop Up In New Mexico
By E Jamar|Published December 18, 2018
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E Jamar
Author
E Jamar is a published writer based in Milwaukee, WI. Despite being a Midwesterner at heart, you can often find them trekking throughout the states and discovering new hidden gems. When they're not traveling, you can find them discussing disability issues, cuddling their pug puppy, and checking out new local spots.
People who live in Albuquerque are used the seasons changing and the tumbleweeds turning into snowmen, but for anyone else this might be a strange sight. New Mexico, and especially Albuquerque, aren’t known for mountains of snow in the winter. A local organization took the lack of snow into their own hands and started using a seemingly useless material and created a holiday tradition that we’ve all grown to know and love.
Every year, the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority takes the city's endless tumbleweeds and turns them into a giant jolly snowman.
Standing at over 14-feet tall, you won't miss this gigantic tumbleweed that's spray painted and dressed like a snowman on the side of the highway. This jolly giant goes up the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (also known as Tumbleweed Tuesday,) and will stay there well into January.
This huge tumbleweed snowman has been on display on the side of I-40, right outside of the AMAFCA offices for over two decades now.
In 1995, the AMAFCA has created a gigantic tumbleweed snowman outside of their offices. It's said that it all started as a joke, simply a way to use the city's ever-present tumbleweeds, but now the organization is fully committed.
Year after year, the tumbleweed snowman grows in size. It now reaches over 15-feet tall. The AMAFCA starts collecting tumbleweeds as early as August to make sure they'll have enough. The tumbleweeds are welded to a stand, though the winds will still occasionally take him down.
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Albuquerquians have grown to know and love the tumbleweed snowman, and look forward to its jolly face every year.
To check in on the tumbleweed snowman, you can visit the AMAFCA's Facebook page right here.
Are you a fan of the tumbleweed snowman? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and feel free to share your photos of this magnificent tumbleweed man with us in our New Mexico Nature Lovers Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram by tagging #onlyinnewmexico for a chance to be featured!
Still not feeling in the holiday spirit? Hop aboard New Mexico’s most spectacular Christmas train that’s an entire holiday experience.
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