Cold winds blowing across Lake Erie set in motion a disaster that would damage hundreds of homes and businesses, shut down entire cities for days and force an expectant mother to give birth at a fire station because no vehicles could transport her. transport to a hospital. PODCAST: State of Emergency Declared for Great Buffalo Blizzard of 2014 A solid band of lake-effect snow moved across western New York on November 17, 2014. This unwavering storm was both torrential and persistent, creating whiteout conditions that would not finally stop until the 19th. This day-long lake-effect snowfall event produced up to 165 centimeters of snow near Buffalo, New York, burying some homes up to their second stories and bringing the area to a standstill for days. The devastation of Western New York’s snow by the lake underscored a basic fact of living near lakes during the cold season: snow showers are nothing to sneeze at.
Lake-effect snow and summer storms are cousins
Lake-effect snow lands with its characteristic punch because it is born from the same process that creates a towering storm on a humid summer afternoon. Snow from the lakes is a drift product. We experience the most lake-induced snow during the fall and early winter months because there is still a sharp temperature difference between the surface of the lakes and the much cooler winds blowing over the water. DON’T MISS: Why does your long-term forecast change so often? Some of this air comes into direct contact with these warmer waters, heating this shallow layer of air like a camper holding his hands over a fire to stay warm. This air becomes warmer than its surroundings, allowing it to begin rising through the atmosphere. A greater difference between the temperature of the lake and the atmosphere above will cause the air to rise even faster, fueling the formation of snow showers similar to how we would see storms blowing up on a hot July day.
WATCH: How lake-effect snow forms over a warm lake
A dangerous game of tug
If you can’t stand snow, you don’t want to make fetch happen. Fetch is the distance the wind travels over open water. Greater traction means the wind spends more time and travels a greater distance over water, a key ingredient in the formation of lake-induced snow. Strong winds blowing across the water organize these snow showers into bands, blowing them over the lake shores and bringing us the lake effect rounds that are so familiar during the holiday season. Forecasters are closely watching wind direction for clues about where snow bands will form and how heavy they could grow. A short retreat leads to multiple but narrow bands of snow that can cover a large area with a moderate blanket of accumulation. On the other hand, a large draft leads to isolated, thick bands of snow.
The Great Lakes is king, but it’s a widespread problem
The size, depth and location of the Great Lakes make this region prime real estate for lake-induced snow, but this phenomenon is possible across Canada and around the world. Lake-effect snow is common in southern Manitoba in early fall before the lakes freeze. Marine-effect snow – which forms through the same process, just over the ocean instead – is a regular sight throughout the cold season in the Atlantic provinces. We even see lake and sea effect snow around the world. Sapporo, Japan is one of the snowiest cities in the world due to the sea snow that buries the city of nearly two million people in meter after meter of dust each season. Prevailing winds make some parts of the Great Lakes more prone to these blockbuster snow events than others. Northwesterly winds blowing across Lake Huron and Georgian Bay are leaving communities like Kincardine, Goderich and Barry open to heavy snow bands. Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are notorious for their fire blanket-like snow belts in the Niagara region, eastern Ontario and western New York because southwesterly winds reach extremely far across these lakes, fueling strong bands of snow that can last for days.
BEWARE: Why is it so hard to predict snowfall?
The terrifying tension meets the edge of the knife
These legendary snow belts can create some of the most intense winter conditions you will ever experience on the planet, similar to a severe winter storm. The most powerful lake-driven events can produce snowfall rates in excess of 10cm of snow per hour, overwhelming the ability of plows to keep roads clear for more than a few minutes at a time. Convection strong enough to produce this type of snowfall often results in intense lightning and heavy thunder. Several feet of snow covers the New York State Thruway near Buffalo, N.Y., during the November 2014 lake-level blizzard. (New York State Police/Facebook) What’s scarier than long whiteouts and fertile thunder is the fact that these bands can be very difficult to predict. MUST SEE: Why Ontario’s ‘snow snake’ caught many – including meteorologists – off guard The snow is often so dense that a few kilometers mean the difference between a peaceful winter scene and a nightmarish disaster that shuts down entire neighborhoods for days at a time. A tiny shift in wind direction or a slight wobble in the band itself can shift these mammoth snowpacks along with it. The snowdrifts that fell south of Buffalo in 2014 would have hit the center of the city itself if the band had moved just a few miles further north. Image thumbnail courtesy of Pixabay.
