We used to get that a lot in the lake effect areas.
I think it has to do with the wind swirling around buildings and stuff when it’s really gusty.
That occurred to me, but the house is to the north of the driveway, so the only way the wind could swirl around it would be if was a north wind. Seemed too warm for that.
Under normal circumstances, the wind comes pretty steadily out of the west. I start on the west side of the driveway, with the chute adjusted to shoot the snow east. Then I just work my way across the driveway from west to east, and there's no muss, no fuss. Not today.
It made me think of the "macrocell event" that happened back on Labor Day 1999. The wind was all over the place then, too.