Making Snow At Home

The Northeast is still digging out from last weekend's blizzard. But in Cornelius, N. C., Jamey Townsend is sick of living without snow in the South. So he's done something about it.

Townsend built his own snowmakers, modeled on the ones at ski resorts. He pumps his own snow onto the hill in his backyard and onto his homemade snowboard ramp -- turning his backyard into the winter ski resort of the neighborhood.

"I love snowboarding and I love snow," Townsend tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, "and it's two hours to the mountains. So I figured, I might as well make my own and snowboard on my own snow. So that's what I did."

The 20-year-old snowboarder started tinkering with a snowmaking machine a couple years ago, but now, he's perfected his technique. Passionate about how things work, he decided to do some research about how to make the machine.

"I had a lot of trial and error attempts," he says. "And then, I resorted to the Internet and found a few Web sites that helped me figure out what else I needed to do. There were a lot of people throughout it all who know what they're doing, and helped me out. We sort of helped each other out, and now, it's become something that people can do at home rather than just the ski resorts."

When it's cold enough, Townsend makes his snow. Explaining his creation, he says that a top nozzle sprays out water and a bottom one sprays out a combination of water and air.

"The compressed air breaks out the water and cools it and, whenever it hits freezing air, it turns into snow," he explains.

Townsend has been making snow in his yard for four years now. He says his neighbors have not complained about his interesting wintertime hobby. In fact, he gives snowboarding lessons to those interested, in front of his house.

One of his friends offered a demonstration, snowboarding down a ramp Townsend built. "This is my friend Seth, and I think he'll do his best to not fall," Townsend said with a smile. "I have taught a few people how to snowboard."

When Townsend finishes college, he plans to move to New England.