How far inland does lake effect snow typically extend?

Lake-effect snowstorms can produce 0.3- 1.5 meters (1-5 feet) of snow in single extreme events and can continues for days. The great Lake snow belts cover the lake shores and about 50-80 km (30-50 miles) inland before most of the lake-supplied moisture is removed by precipitation.



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All that water picked up from the lake normally travels no further than about 25 miles away before falling, but it can sometimes travel as far as 100 miles away! That moisture can make for a whole lot of snow. Luckily for people living near large lakes, lake effect snow generally slows down around February.

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  • Western Michigan, Northwestern Lower Michigan, and Northern Indiana can experience heavy lake-effect snow. ...
  • The region east and southeast of Lake Ontario frequently sees daily snowfall totals that are higher than anywhere in the United States.


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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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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 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.

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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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