Uncooked Swedish meatballs. Now imagine 20 tons of these.
Uncooked Swedish meatballs. Now imagine 20 tons of these. Håkan Dahlström / CC BY 2.0

The forecast “cloudy with a chance of meatballs” takes on an entirely different meaning when you find yourself facing several metric tons of spherical meat.

Drivers in southwest Sweden faced this unusual obstacle last Wednesday. Ice covering a small road near the E20 motorway caused a truck’s trailer to swerve into a ditch. The truck, on its way to pick up potatoes, stayed on the road. But the trailer rolled on its side and unleashed a cascade of meatballs—20 tons total—according to Skaraborgs Läns Tidning. Thankfully, no one was injured.

Officer Tommy Emriksson told a local TV outlet that smaller roads, much like where the accident occurred, often do not have salt on them. Drivers should proceed with caution during icy conditions, especially when carrying enormous shipments of meatballs.

A plate of Swedish meatballs, immortalized in a Polaroid.
A plate of Swedish meatballs, immortalized in a Polaroid. Ines S. / CC BY 2.0

Rescue teams said that the rest of the meatballs had to be unloaded before they could dig the trailer out of the ditch, which would take some time. No word, however, on whether a crowd of hungry revelers, forks in hand, could be seen on their way to help clean up.

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