Lake-effect snowstorms occur in only three places in the world: around the Great Lakes (see map of snow belts), the east shore of Hudson Bay in Canada, and along the west coast of the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido.
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Lake effect snow is most often associated with the Great Lakes region of the United States. However, there are at least two other places where this phenomenon also occurs: the east shore of Hudson Bay in Canada and the west coasts of the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido off of Japan.
The region most commonly affected spans from Port Stanley in the west, the Bruce Peninsula in the north, Niagara-on-the-Lake to the east, and Fort Erie to the south. The heaviest accumulations usually happen in the Bruce Peninsula, which is between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.
Lake Erie is the only lake that routinely freezes each winter, and once it does, lake effect snow seldom occurs. In the U.S. lake effect snow commonly occurs across northern Wisconsin, western Michigan, northwestern New York, northwestern Pennsylvania and the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
Lake effect snow is common across the Great Lakes region during the late fall and winter. Lake Effect snow occurs when cold air, often originating from Canada, moves across the open waters of the Great Lakes.
Lake-effect snow is a frequent contributor to our seasonal snowfall in Chicago and with Lake Michigan almost ice free, the lake-effect snow machine is open for business provided a cold wind is blowing in our favor in the right direction. Nearly 93% of the Great Lakes does not have significant ice cover.
Lake Superior has the greatest impact on local snowfall amounts with 100% more winter precipitation falling downwind compared to Lakes Erie and Ontario that only have precipitation increases of 15% from the lake-effects.
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.