A cloud of cottonwood seeds gave the appearance of a June snow flurry in western New York over the weekend.
Joseph Frascati captured video of a swarm of fuzzy, white seeds in Brighton, just outside Rochester, and shared it on Twitter on Sunday. In the video, it looks like snow is falling on a bright, sunny day.
The fluffy fibers that encase the cottonwood seeds help transport them on the wind.
Seed production begins when the eastern cottonwood tree, also known as the Eastern poplar, is about 5 to 10 years old. The older and larger the tree gets, the more seeds it can produce. A single eastern cottonwood tree can release as many as 48 million seeds according to the U.S. Forest Service.
