What causes lake effect snow quizlet?

In the winter, lake-effect snows form when cold air moves over warmer lake water. Lake moisture evaporates up into the cold air as the bottom layer of cold air is heated by the warmer lake water. This now-warmed air begins to rise and cool and the moisture within it begins to condense forming clouds and then snow.

What 2 things are required for lake effect snow?

To grow a snowstorm, you need moisture, lift, and below-freezing temperatures. But for lake effect snow to occur, these special conditions are also required: A lake or bay of 100 km wide, or larger. (The longer the lake, the greater the distance the air must travel over it, and the greater the convection.)

What causes lake effect snow to stop?

Lake-effect snow generally doesn’t fall over the water because it needs the friction and topography of the land to bring out the snow. Winds usually blow west to east in the Northern Hemisphere, so the lake-enhanced snow is pushed to the eastern side of the Great Lakes, Miller said.

What is lake effect snow quizlet?

Lake/Ocean effect snow. cold polar or arctic air flows over a relatively warm water surface, generating convective snow bands over and downwind of a body of water.

Which air mass is associated with lake effect snow what causes lake effect snow?

What causes lake-effect snow? Continental polar (cP) air masses are associated with lake-effect snow. As the cold dry air passes over the great lakes it picks up heat and moisture, then, as the air mass crosses land again it loses the moisture as snowstorm precipitation due to air mass instability.

What causes snow patterns Michigan?

As air rises, it cools. Cooler, moist air may form clouds and cause precipitation. Hills and high lands on down-wind lake shores force air upward. Air cools further, encouraging cloud formation and greater snowfall.

Can you predict lake-effect snow?

The HRRR is NOAA’s hourly updating, short-term weather model, and is the most commonly used weather model for predicting lake-effect snow. But the HRRR needs accurate water surface temperatures to properly estimate evaporation rates from lake surfaces, which is the main driver of lake-effect snow.

Does Chicago get a lot of lake-effect snow?

Chicago does get some lake-effect snow when winds blow in from the northeast, but typically the area receives lake-enhanced snowstorm totals from the organized northeast winds that accompany snow-producing low-pressure systems passing south of the city.

What factors would lead to a decrease in lake effect snow in the great lakes region quizlet?

What factors may lead to an increase in lake effect snow in the great lakes region? Which feedback loop was related to increasing the severity of droughts? What percent of aerosols are from man-made sources? Where would you expect the highest amounts of evapotranspiration?

Is lake effect snow wet or dry?

Lake-effect snow develops when cold, dry air, often originating from Canada, flows across the relatively warmer waters of the Great Lakes. As that cold air passes over the lakes, warmth and moisture from the water are picked up and transferred into the lowest portion of the Earth’s atmosphere.

What exactly does “lake effect snow” mean?

“‘Lake-effect snow’ is the name of the process that we give to precipitation that develops due to a relatively warm lake surface temperature and cold air moving over the top of it,” Huyck said. Imagine an amount of cold air – what meteorologists call a “parcel” of air – moving across land.

What are States experience lake effect snow?

Michigan, northern Indiana and northeast Ohio are most prone to lake effect snow each season since west and northwest winds usher chilly Canadian air across 80 to 120 miles of the Great Lakes, leading to intense lake effect snow showers. When winds run north to northeast, the Chicago metro area can experience lake effect snow.

What does warming mean for lake effect snow?

In a warming world, not only will lake temperatures increase , but the lakes will remain ice-free for longer periods of time. As long as there is enough cold air to blow over the lakes, it could mean an increase in lake effect snows even in a world where temperatures are increasing, as counter-intuitive as that may sound.

How does lake effect snow develop?

Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water, warming the lower layer of air which picks up water vapor from the lake, rises up through the colder air above, freezes and is deposited on the leeward (downwind) shores.