How much snow fell? Here’s how to measure
Lloyd Durfey loves weather and the National Weather Service uses his meticulous record keeping for official snowfall totals. From the D&C archives.
You don’t need to tell New Yorkers twice that the state’s winters are snowy but, according to USA TODAY, Western New York has some of the snowiest places in the U.S.
USA TODAY looked at weather records for small towns and big cities to find some of the snowiest spots in the nation and found that Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo reign supreme.
Here’s what to know.
Three New York cities are snow central
For big cities of at least 100,000 residents, three in Western New York take the prize for snowiest, according to National Weather Service data:
Syracuse, New YorkRochester, New YorkBuffalo, New York
Thanks primarily to lake-effect snow, the USA’s snowiest big city is Syracuse, New York, which gets about 11 feet of snow per winter season, the National Weather Service said. It’s also one of the nation’s rainiest and cloudiest cities. Other cities in western New York, such as Rochester and Buffalo, average about 9 feet per year, again due to the lake effect.
All three are in the traditional lake-effect snow belts, with cold winds from the west moving across the relatively warm Great Lakes, the Old Farmer’s Almanac said.
Lake-effect snow in New York: A machine
When snow piles up in places such as Syracuse or Buffalo in Western New York, people start talking about the “lake-effect snow machine.” But what, exactly, is lake-effect snow? How does it happen?
Lake-effect snow, which can last for only a few minutes to several days, develops from narrow bands of clouds that form when cold, dry arctic air passes over a large, relatively mild lake.
As the cold air passes over the unfrozen and “warm” waters of the Great Lakes, warmth and moisture are transferred into the lowest portion of the atmosphere, the National Weather Service says. The air rises, and clouds form and grow into narrow bands that produce 2 to 3 inches of snow an hour or more.
These snows typically occur only in the fall or early winter, before the lakes freeze over. (But if the lakes don’t freeze, lake-effect snow can occur throughout the winter and into the spring.)
“L​ake-effect snow generated by the Great Lakes is among the heaviest snowfall in the world,” said Weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Erdman in an online report.
One of the most noteworthy lake-effect snowfalls in New York state occurred over a 10-day period from Feb. 3-12, 2007, when an incredible 141 inches of snow (that’s 11.75 feet) were measured in the town of Redfield, New York, about 50 miles northeast of Syracuse, Erdman said.
Emily Barnes reports on consumer-related issues for the USA TODAY Network’s New York Connect Team, focusing on scam and recall-related topics. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @byemilybarnes. Get in touch at [email protected].
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Publish date : 2024-12-02 03:26:00
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