While most people are doing everything that they can to stay indoors and avoid the freezing temperatures, the City of Lathrop is working outside to ensure that Lathrop’s streets don’t look like a Wild West town once the weather starts to change.

For the remainder of this month the city will have crews out working to abate the weeds that have grown along more than 27 miles of city right of way and within over 200 acres of open space – including storm drains and retention ponds.

The goal? Reducing the number of tumbleweeds that blow down residential and arterial streets when the weather finally warms up.

According to the City of Lathrop, there were a total of 14 40-yard dumpsters full of tumbleweeds removed from the city last year – tumbleweeds that could have damaged vehicles, cause an accident, or just pose a general nuisance by piling up on roadsides and along fences near open spaces where they roam freely.

The name “tumbleweed” is attributed to several different plant species that dry up and die and then detach from their root systems to roll – and not just errantly. The process is part of the way that the plant spreads its seeds so that it germinates other similar plants and ensure survival for the respective species.

By spraying for weeds in specific areas, the city crews hope to prevent the types of weeds that can eventually tumble from taking root – preventing the needs to remove the often bulky and at times uncomfortable plants once they’ve collected and piled up.

Certain online forums are packed with horror stories from drivers who have had unfortunate run-ins with the rolling plants – including damage to the front of a vehicle that included puncturing an AC condenser, and a tumbleweed that got sucked up into an engine compartment and then caught fire.

Last year drivers in Washington state became trapped by a large quantity of tumbleweeds – some of which were 20 or 30 feet tall. The pileup closed a highway near Yakima for more than 10 hours while transportation crews worked to remove them and free the trapped drivers – some of whom couldn’t even open their doors.

The Lathrop Manteca Fire District conducts weed abatement inspections throughout the city during the months when weeds can become a fire hazard – driving through residential and commercial streets and looking for any properties that have not adequately removed the potential fuel before disaster strikes.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.