What lakes in the US produce lake-effect snow?

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.



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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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In the average winter, about 50% of Lake Erie is iced over near the end of January, according to the NOAA. This time last year, 55% to 60% of the surface was frozen. Those living on this end of Lake Erie know that when there's open water, it can feel like open season for lake-effect snow.

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The farther cold air travels over the lake surface, the more moisture is evaporated from the lake. A long “fetch” – the distance over water – often results in more lake-effect snow than a shorter one. Imagine a wind out of the west that is perfectly aligned so it blows over the entire 241-mile length of Lake Erie.

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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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As of February 14, 2023, ice covered only 6.6 percent of the five freshwater lakes, which is significantly less than the 35-40 percent ice cover that is typical for mid-February, according to data published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory ( ...

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Three times in the past half century Lake Erie reached 100 percent ice cover: 1978, 1979, and 1996. Conditions on the lake are not only highly variable from year to year, but also day to day.

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Places near the shoreline can receive lake-effect snow, but because the state lies north and west of the lake, snowfall amounts are not nearly as large as they are in locations like Wisconsin and Michigan that lie downwind to the south. Even so, the single largest snowstorm in Minnesota history was a lake effect event.

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Lake-effect snow forms when dry, freezing air picks up moisture and heat as it moves along warmer lake water. This causes some of the lake water to evaporate into the air, causing the air to be warmer and wetter.

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