![]() 18, where the temperature was 71 degrees Fahrenheit. In Traverse City where I reside, a new record high temperature was just reported by NOAA’s National Weather Service at 12:20 p.m. Perhaps a bigger question is will the cold air masses come in from Canada and for what duration to cause large lake effect? It seems a key to lake effect and annual snowfall amounts is likely related to the overall weather pattern which may have helped create the warm waters. There clearly is the warmth in the water. The greater the temperature difference the more water the air will take in. The direction of the wind is important-if the wind is blowing in a direction that covers more of the lake, the air will take in more water. If the winds and temperatures are right, the air acts like a big sponge that sops up water from the lake and wrings it out on land in the form of snow. Lake effect snow is created when a large temperature gradient exists between the surface of the Great Lakes and the temperature at 5000 feet above the ground. Let’s start with a discussion of what lake effect snow actually is. It is possible that very heavy lake effect snows could come from having such warm Great Lakes water. What are some of the implications this might portend? ![]() This is a stark contrast to three years ago when ice started forming in shallow protected areas of the Great Lakes by Thanksgiving, Nov.28, 2013. This is due to a warm winter 2015-16 and a hot summer 2016. Meteorologist Mark Torregrossa’s research using two Lake Michigan NOAA buoys shows average surface water temperatures set a record high in Lake Michigan (consistent data has been collected from 1979 onward). 7-8, 2011.As noted in Part 1 of this series, the fall 2016 water temperatures of the Great Lakes are significantly warmer than average and there is no ice that has even come close to forming as of late November, 2016. This was the heaviest calendar-day snow of record for the city (26 inches) dating to 1893, with a record two-day total of 36.6 inches from Jan. Yes, there were 8, then 6 inches of snow falling per hour at South Bend in this event. The "SNINCR" remark in the observations above is put in by a weather observer indicating how much snow fell in the hour prior to the observation. Here were two weather observations taken that morning at the South Bend Regional Airport:ĥ:54 a.m.: KSBN 081054Z 00000KT 1/4SM +SN SNINCR 8/19Ħ:54 a.m.: KSBN 081154Z 28009KT 1/4SM +SN SNINCR 6/23 On January 8, 2011, a snowband spanning virtually the entire north-south length of Lake Michigan curled into South Bend, Indiana, hammering the city with some of the highest snowfall rates you'll ever see outside the other snowbelts. While Lake Michigan snowstorm totals might not usually be as jaw-dropping as their Lake Erie or Ontario counterparts, there are some exceptions. 3-12, 2007, an incredible 141 inches of snow were measured in the town of Redfield, New York, about 50 miles northeast of Syracuse.Īverage annual snowfall (1981-2010 period) in the Great Lakes and Midwest. In 2007, however, even this snowbelt was overwhelmed. Three- to four-foot lake snowstorms are routine here each fall and winter. Furthermore, the Tug Hill Plateau rises steeply from the lakeshore, adding lift to the lake-effect band. Single bands of heavy lake-effect snow also form more often off this Great Lake due to its west-to-east orientation. Lake Ontario's depth allows it to be largely unfrozen even in the middle of winter, keeping it open to generating lake-effect snow. Even higher unofficial snowfalls have been recorded nearby, with the towns of Adams and Barnes Corners receiving 68 inches and 54 inches, respectively, on Jan. snowfall record, it does hold the official 24-hour snowfall record for the state of New York: 50 inches set in Camden on Feb. While the Lake Ontario snowbelt doesn't officially hold the 24-hour U.S. Weather historian Christopher Burt compiled a list of the record snowfall rates in his book, "Extreme Weather." Many of the snowfall records for periods of 24 hours or less are dominated by lake-effect snow events, primarily those from Lake Ontario. Lake-Effect Events Dominate Short-Term Snow Rate Records If the terrain rises appreciably from the downwind lakeshore, as it does in most Great Lakes snowbelt locations, that added lift to the air accentuates the snowfall. Feet of snow can pile up under this band, while just 10 to 15 miles away, only light snow falls, if any. When this occurs, you can get a single, narrow, intense band of snow, sometimes accompanied by thunder and lightning, dumping incredible snowfall rates over a small area for several days on end. The heaviest lake-effect snow events occur when a flow of air much colder than the unfrozen lake sets up over the longest stretch of the lake's axis, persisting as long as possible. 5, 2015, in this high-resolution image from NASA's Aqua satellite. Lake-effect snowbands blanket the Great Lakes region on Jan.
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