Can the ocean cause lake effect snow?

The vapor then freezes and is deposited on the leeward (downwind) shores. A cold northwesterly to westerly wind over all the Great Lakes created the lake-effect snowfall of January 10, 2022. The same effect also occurs over bodies of saline water, when it is termed ocean-effect or bay-effect snow.



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Anywhere! Lake effect snow can occur over any unfrozen body of water where the fetch is long enough to gather enough moisture to create snow. Lake effect snow can occur over Lake Tahoe, the Great Salt Lake, the finger lakes, and even has been reported over rivers in the Midwest!

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Lake effect snows are common downwind of the Great Lakes in the United States and Canada, the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and in parts of Scandinavia, Korea, and Japan.

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The climate around Lake Superior is colder than that around other Great Lakes, which makes it more able to support snowfall for a longer period of time, even when temperatures warm. Eventually, though, as temperatures continue to rise, lake effect snows turn into rain.

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Luckily for people living near large lakes, lake effect snow generally slows down around February. That's when the lakes freeze over, making it impossible for the air to steal moisture away from the lake.

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Lake-effect snow can form on small lakes just as it does in the Great Lakes. Salt Lake City, Fort Worth and Carson City, Nevada have all had bouts of snow from lakes. Inland lake-effect and ocean-effect doesn't just occur in the United States.

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Syracuse, New York, directly south of the Tug Hill Plateau, receives significant lake-effect snow from Lake Ontario, and averages 115.6 inches (294 cm) of snow per year, which is enough snowfall to be considered one of the snowiest large cities in America.

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Northern or westerly winds blow over the lakes' surface, picking up heat and water vapor that produce warm columns of air known as “thermals.” Those columns then cool down and condense into cumulus clouds, aligning in the direction of the prevailing wind over the lakes' surface.

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