A swarm of grasshoppers invading Tooele, Utah was so large it registered on weather radar systems.
The plague of grasshoppers moved into northwestern Utah was so large it was picked up by the National Weather Service.
The plague-like surge was captured heading northeast toward the Great Salt Lake before hitting Tooele, Utah leaving farmers with destroyed crops.
'Every bit of alfalfa that’s in my fields is gone,' rancher Michael Dow told KSLTV. 'I planted a pasture and all the seedlings were about 3/4 of an inch tall Sunday morning, and on Sunday evening, they were gone, it was bare dirt' he explained.
There have been other reports of insects terrorizing the region for the last few weeks. Some have remarked that is seems to be "Biblical pestilence."
Swarms of grasshoppers can destroy crops in a short amount of time, quickly eating their way through fields of wheat, spinach, corn and other plants.
The insects also bite, but this is usually more irritating than serious as the bites tend to cause mild discomfort. Many humans don't even realize they have been by a grasshopper.
Scientists were able to recognize the radar movement in Utah as grasshoppers because the group was very 'non-uniform,' and weather events like rain and snow tend to be more consistent in shape, meteorologist Alex DeSmet told the Salt Lake Tribune.
'This is not a common thing,' State entomologist Kris Watson, who manages Utah’s insect and pest program at the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said.
'Grasshoppers themselves are common, but for them to show up on a radar detection — to my understanding, it’s not very common.'
