Police Have a Clever Way of Busting Pot Growers in Cold Weather

Police have at least one advantage in trying to find where residents are producing marijuana – especially in snowy weather. It's a trick that led police in the Netherlands to a home where residents had been growing the green.

What tipped police off?

The roof of the building in Haarlem, a small town outside of Amsterdam, was covered in snow — save for one small section. How could it be that in such cold weather, the snow atop just one section of the roof would melt, but not anywhere else?

This phenomenon alerted police, who raided the home. Inside, they found an industrial-sized marijuana production lab, Complex reported. The heat lamps used to nurture the cannabis plants put off enough warmth to melt the snow on the roof directly above them.

Take a look at the photo of the roof police tweeted:

Kijk eens in uw wijk naar de daken. Geen sneeuw? Mogelijke #hennepkwekerij. Bel 0900-8844 of anoniem 0800-7000. ^ps pic.twitter.com/X0zFZWEnNp

— Politie Delft (@PolDelft)

February 5, 2015

A similar weed bust happened in the country the previous week, where police spotting another telltale roof in Zutphen found at least 88 cannabis plants growing, according to the U.K. Telegraph.

The European country's pot laws allow residents to grow up to five plants at once, as well as legally carry up to 5 grams, or 0.17 ounces, of weed.

–

Follow Jon Street (@JonStreet) on Twitter