what is lake-effect snow?

Answer 1

Lake-effect snow is snow that is in the general vicinity of the Great Lakes region. Moisture is picked up from the lakes, and causes a greater amount of snow than would be present if the lakes were not there. This can apply to any body of water, but since the Great Lakes are so big, it's much more noticable, and affects a much bigger area than an ordinary lake or reservoir.

Answer 2

In cities like Cleveland, which is on the eastern end of Lake Erie, they experience a type of snow that is really horrible. Basically, when a snow cloud passes over a lake, the water vapor coming up from the lake fuels the cloud and makes it drop a bunch of precipitation, in this case snow, once it gets past the lake. Since Cleveland is on a lake, and gets its weather from the northwest, i.e. right over the lake, they get some pretty bad snow storms.

Answer 3

Anyone who lives East of a large body of water should know this one. As a storm passes over the water, it picks up moisture from the lake. This moisture turns to snow and is dropped on the Eastern side of said Lake, sometimes far inland. This is why Buffalo NY gets so much snow. It is also the reason Salt Lake City, or more properly, the mountains behind SLC, gets the light fluffy powder Utah is famous for.

Answer 4

This phenomenon happens when cold dry Arctic air meets the warm waters of the Great Lakes, picking up water vapors along the way and developing into snow squalls.

Answer 5

For example, when a weather system moves across Lake Erie, it pulls moisture from the lake and thus the snow storm creates more velocity and strength than across dry land. In effect, it gets more powerful. So you have a lot more snow than you would without the lake effect.

For more details go to: http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/lkefsnw1.htm

Answer 6

Lake effect snows occur when a mass of sufficiently cold air moves over a body of warmer water, creating an unstable temperature profile in the atmosphere.

As a result, clouds build over the lake and eventually develop into snow showers and squalls as they move downwind. The intensity of lake effect snow is increased when higher elevations downwind of the lake force the cold, snow-producing air to rise even further.

The most likely setting for this localized type of snowfall is when very cold Arctic air rushes over warmer water on the heels of a passing cold front, as often happens in the Great Lakes region during winter.

Winds accompanying Arctic air masses generally blow from a west or northwest direction, causing lake effect snow to fall on the east or southeast sides of the lakes.

Whether an area gets a large amount of snow from lake effect is dependent on the direction of the winds, the duration they blow from a particular direction, and the magnitude of the temperature difference between the water and air.

Since cold air can hold very little moisture and the low level of the atmosphere is quite unstable, clouds form very rapidly, condensation occurs and snow begins to fall. Lake effect snow is lighter than snow that forms from frontal stratus or nimbostratus.

Areas of relatively high elevation downwind of the Great Lakes generally receive heavier amounts of lake effect snow than do other locations in this region.

For example, residents of the Tug Hill Plateau in New York State east of Lake Ontario can spend the winter months digging out of anywhere from 200 to 300 inches of snow. Likewise, the mountains of West Virginia can receive over 200 inches of snow in a winter, helped by the lake effect.

The only other lake that produces significant lake effect snow in the United States is the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts and Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia, on occasion, produce what is called bay effect snow. Bay effect snow forms in the same manner as lake effect snow, only over the ocean.

Answer 7

hi I artwork for the NOAA nationwide climate provider, Lake result snow is brought about at the same time as a chilly air mass from canada pronounced as a (Cp) or Continental Polar air mass makes its excess of the nice and cozy temperature waters of lake Michignan, Huron or the different major body of water. because storms decide on some style of warm temperature source to grow to be more effective, the nice and cozy temperature water is evaporated into the hurricane gadget that passes overhead. With this, further and extra water droplts style contained in the cloud which have the prospect of freezing at the same time as the hurricane keeps onto land. at the same time as the hurricane does hit land there's a deep layer of chilly air from the bottom of the cloud to the floor that motives all the droplets to freeze and grow to be snow. it really is the way you get lake result snow

Answer 8

when the cold canadian air sweeps over the warmer and unfrozen waters of the great lakes this causes pockets of snow to develop on the other side of the lakes.

Answer 9

Homework?

Answer 10

move to Oswego,Ny and then youll find out