For most people who live in unaffected regions of the
country,
lake effect snow is merely something that they have heard of but have
little to
no understanding of. Here in Houghton, at Michigan Technological
University (MTU), we are familiar with lake effect snow. The purpose
of
this page is to provide the general public with the basics of what
causes lake effect and provide links to learn more about it.
Satellite image
showing bands of lake effect clouds forming over the Great Lakes
Lake effect occurs when cold northwesterly winds blow over a
warm
lake. The cold air pulls up moisture from the lake surface then cool and
condenses the moisture into that frozen precipitation we call snow. The
larger the lake and the greater the temperature difference, the more snow
will fall once the cloud reaches land. The shores of the Great Lakes are
the most affected by this phenomenon.
In order to determine hom much of the local and regional snowfall
is due to lake effect conditions, we must carefully analyze many diffenent
areas of data. Wind speed, air temperature, and lake surface temperature
are the most important factors.
Satellite image
showing bands of lake effect clouds forming over the Great Lakes