Lake-Effect Snow Blasting Eastern Great Lakes | WeatherBug
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Lake-Effect Snow Blasting Eastern Great Lakes

December 2, 2020
UPDATED By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Anthony Sagliani
Heavy snow continues across the eastern Great Lakes and the northern Appalachians, with lake-effect squalls bringing several more inches tonight and early Wednesday. Travel problems are possible.

An autumn storm system sitting over eastern Lake Ontario is sweeping cold air across the Great Lakes. Several pulses of upper-level energy are accompanying the cold air. This, combined with the warm water temperatures of lakes Erie and Ontario, are the ingredients needed to produce widespread lake-effect snow.

Heavy snow squalls will continue to be possible across northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and western New York through early Wednesday. Accumulations of up to a foot is likely, with even higher amounts possible in the elevated locations of northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania. Eighteen to 24 inches of snow cannot be ruled out in localized, persistent snow bands.

Already today, 10 inches of snow has been reported in Lyndhurst, Ohio, with more than a foot near South Thompson, Ohio. Cleveland has received around 5 inches at midday.

The snow will be accompanied by wind gusts exceeding 35 mph. White-out conditions and larger snow drifts will be possible tonight, especially in the common snow belts. Travel along the Interstate 80 and 90 corridors west of Cleveland to Buffalo, N.Y., and western Pennsylvania will be impacted.

Snow will also fall across the rest of eastern Ohio, southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the western Maryland Panhandles today, with several inches of snow possible, with the higher Appalachian ridges and the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, western Maryland and eastern West Virginia receiving higher accumulations in the 6-to-12-inch range. Traveler along I-68, 70, 76 and 79 will also contend with snow-covered and icy roads.

Winter Storm Warnings remain in effect across north-central and northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, western New York, and the highest ridges of the central Appalachians through Wednesday morning. This includes Sandusky and Cleveland, Ohio, Erie, Pa., and Jamestown, N.Y.

The snow will begin to wrap up early Wednesday across Ohio and western Pennsylvania as the storm system moves northward into northern Quebec. However, the threat for lake-effect snow will shift into central and northern New York on Wednesday. Several inches of snow will be possible near Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown and Syracuse, N.Y.

Later this Wednesday, the winds shift off the lake, ending the lake-effect threat through the end of the work week.

The lake-effect snow season occurs in late-autumn and early winter when the cold, dry air from central Canada sweeps across the relatively warm water of the Great Lakes. This contrast in temperature cause snow squalls to develop and move downwind into eastern Great Lakes. The common snowbelts for the Eastern Great Lakes run from northeastern Ohio into upstate New York while the snow belts for the western Great Lakes run from eastern Wisconsin into Indiana, northwestern Ohio, and all of Michigan.