Juneau, Alaska Winter sunrise over Juneau, Alaska. Thanks to the lake effect, Syracuse also ranks near the top of the list of the rainiest cities in the US. That makes it harder for Syracuse to miss out entirely because the lake effect bands are dozens of miles wide instead of just a couple of miles wide.Īs a result, Syracuse can pile up inch after inch of snow day after day from November right on through to February, when the lake typically gets too cold to produce a robust lake effect.
That said, the snow falling downwind of Ontario’s short side is spread out over a much wider area. That’s why the city doesn’t get the same epic blizzards seen in Buffalo. Syracuse is downwind of the short side, which means that when cold Canadian air comes in at the right angle to produce lake-effect snow in Syracuse, it has much less time over the lake to acquire moisture. The long side runs from near Buffalo, New York, east-northeast to near Watertown, New York. In other words, there is a “long side” and a “short side” to the lake. How and why does this happen? Syracuse is located southeast of Lake Ontario, which resembles an oval tipped slightly up to the east. While your much less snowy town might be able to beat Syracuse’s record one-day snowstorm, Syracuse makes up for its lack of blockbuster blizzards with frequent smaller storms. Lake effect propels Syracuse easily into the number one spot as the snowiest city in the US. Record One-Day Snowfall: 34 inches on February 15, 1946.Let’s take a look at the snowiest cities in America (with a population over 25,000), according to the average snowfall data from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). What Are the Snowiest Cities in the United States? When these very different air masses collide, the less dense air from the Gulf of Mexico (remember, warm air is less dense than cold air, all else equal) is forced to rise, adding the final ingredient for snow. In the Northeast, intense coastal storms often called “nor’easters,” combine cold Canadian air and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean. As it rises, the lake air cools, which means it can hold less moisture, and any excess must fall out as rain or snow. This warm air, rich with moisture due to evaporation from the lakes, then rises (remember it is less dense than the surrounding cold air). When cold air masses come south out of Canada in the winter, a small layer of warm air adjacent to the Great Lakes is trapped beneath a much colder blanket of air from the north. How does this happen? Warm air is less dense than cold air and will rise if located beneath colder air. In the Midwest, cold air from Canada moves across the warm Great Lakes to produce bands of lake-effect snow. Moisture can arrive from the Pacific Ocean, and air must rise whenever it hits the mountains, so snowfall is easy to come by. In the Rocky Mountains, high elevation ensures an abundant supply of cold air for much of the year. How do these ingredients usually come together? It varies a lot by place. Moisture (relative humidity above 70-80%, usually)Īll you need to do is assemble the three, and you can get snow!.Cold air (below 32° Fahrenheit or 0° Celsius).Like many atmospheric phenomena, snow requires a special set of ingredients to be present at a specific time and place.
What Conditions are Required to Produce Snow?
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