Originally published at: Watch: A few taps on the side of a roof causes an avalanche of snow to crash down | Boing Boing
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Skip up to the 1:00 minute mark for the real show.
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Millennium Tower contractors take note.
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From the looks of the chop marks in the overhanging snow, they’d been whacking at it for a good long time before the start of the video.
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FYI: the tool in question is called a snow rake. Used to own one myself when I lived in western Labrador. Came in handy when the snow got to be 1m or so thick on the roof. Didn’t have a steel roof so had to do things the hard way - gripping a ladder in -30C with one hand and hoping the tiny avalanche didn’t take me with it.
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You can tell that they’ve done this before, as no one was standing in the avalanche zone.
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Now who’s gonna shovel all that snow?
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Yup, here in Minnesota we call it a roof rake or a snow rake. I’ve never used one myself, but I enjoy watching my next door neighbor use his. He’s got a bungalow and can reach the lower parts of its roof while standing on the ground.
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Definitely satisfying when the snow came sliding off the roof 
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I watched the whole thing. It’s the anticipation that makes it all worth it.
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With all that snow they can build a second, igloo shaped, warehouse!
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This is no laughing matter. A fellow student at my daughter’s old school and his mom were killed by snow falling off the roof a few years ago:
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How horrible. A neighbor of mine’s car was totaled when snow slid off the roof of his house, he’s lucky it was only the car.
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Yes, this sort of thing can lead to unfortunate accidents and death, but so could the entirely voluntary leisure activity of skiing that they were in the midst of taking a special trip out of their home state to engage in. It’s terrible to hear someone died, but it doesn’t mean videos of similar snow slides can’t be viewed with a bit of laughter and lightheartedness.
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That’s certainly a scary senseless death 
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As I understand it, the snow has to be removed from the roofs, because there is an upper limit to the weight the supporting elements can sustain. The roof crashing in can also be deadly, so something has to be sorted out.
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Depending on where you are in the world it may be more desirable to keep the snow on the roof to act as insulation. In many of the colder parts of Europe the roof is designed for the live load and the snow is deliberately kept on the roof. In the US the general rule is to get the snow off the roof.
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