When the Great Lakes freeze over what happens to lake effect snow?

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. Not surprisingly, Buffalo is one of the snowiest cities in the country.



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Lake Effect snow occurs when cold air, often originating from Canada, moves across the open waters of the Great Lakes. As the cold air passes over the unfrozen and relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes, warmth and moisture are transferred into the lowest portion of the atmosphere.

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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 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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Snow and ice cover As a lake gradually freezes over, its ability to produce lake-effect precipitation decreases for two reasons. Firstly, the open ice-free liquid surface area of the lake shrinks. This reduces fetch distances.

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Once an ice film has formed on the surface of the lake and the air above the ice continues to be colder than the ice, the ice will thicken. The cold air above the ice causes heat to leave the lake water under the ice and from the ice itself. This causes the water below the ice to freeze into successively deeper layers.

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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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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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It snows in several Australian states: New South Wales (NSW), Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria. For alpine ski enthusiasts, NSW is home to the magnificent Snowy Mountains. Boasting the highest mountain range in Australia, The Snowy Mountains receives an average of 1.9 metres of snowfall per year.

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