What is Lake Effect snow?

If you live near any of the Great Lakes you are familiar with the term Lake Effect snow. It is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. One or multiple lakes are helping to enhance snowfall. Cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, and Erie are in snowbelts that get lake effect snow events fall, winter and sometimes in the spring.

Late fall and early winter are when lake effect snow can be the most prolific. This is because the lake water temperatures are still pretty warm. Water takes longer to heat and cool off compared to land. When cold outbreaks of air from Canada blow over the warm waters of our Great Lakes, conditions are favorable for lake effect snow showers. Cold, dry air blowing over the warm open water causes that water to evaporate. This causes the warming air to rise and become moist. As it continues to rise it will cool again and condense into clouds and as it moves over land it will dump that moisture as snow. Bands of hyper local and intense snow showers form during this process. The wind direction is a huge factor for where the bands will set up and how much moisture they can pick up. Westerly winds blowing across Lake Erie can set up cities like Buffalo, NY for large snow events. When there is a big difference between the air and water temperatures and a large distance for that air to be forced upward, convection can occur and make the snow more intense as thunder and lightning can develop just like a summer-time storm!

Lake effect snow bands can transport snow for miles away from the lake source. They can also cause feet of snow to fall in one location and ten miles away will stay dry. Until the lake is frozen over with ice, if the wind lines up and the water and air temperatures are different, there can be lake effect snow!

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