A drift fence is...................

To answer your question Meg.........
I will try my best to explain the importance of a drift fence and what it does. The second fence that you see (only the very top is visible just behind the drift of snow) is put up in the fall sometime in October. The county comes and puts a stretch of it up in our field following the part of the road that is county. This makes less upkeep for them throughout the winter. And we follow suit. Extending the fence as best we can following the rest of the road up. It is placed in the field approx 25 yards from the road. (I really don't know that distance for sure, I am really bad at guessing distances) But you get the idea. This little fence (though not sturdy or solid) creates a change in direction when the wind hits it. As the wind sails unobstructed across the open fields it picks up the snow and carries it across the field until the force and trajectory changes (even slightly) and then it drops the snow on the other side of whatever causes this change. There are ditches that run parallel to the roads and without the drift fence the ditches would create the same situation and the wind would drop all of the snow onto the road. The drift fence makes this happen before the snow carried by the wind reaches the road. (In theory) This past year the drifts pretty much met the road and still covered the driveway. So the drift fences certainly don't fix the drifting problems completely but definitely help us out.

Hope this all makes sense.