New York State gets 'incredible' amounts of snow by Sean Batty
If you think the snow we have had in the UK over the last week has caused disruption with several inches falling, imagine what several feet could do. This is exactly what has happened in upstate New York.
The residents of Oswego County on the east coast of Lake Ontario have only been able to stand at their windows in amazement as relentless snowfall has dumped incredible amounts of snow through the week. Some areas along the banks of the lake have been buried under around 8ft (244cm), nearly 2 and a half metres of snow, taking the snow up to the second floor of some houses.
The snow has been caused by a set-up known as ‘Lake Effect Snow’, which is where cold air travels over the relatively warmer waters of the lakes and picks up moisture creating Cumulonimbus clouds. The greater the temperature difference the more moisture gets sent up into the atmosphere and the bigger the clouds, which can become very powerful thunderstorms and dump lots of snow. The water temperature of Lake Ontario at this time of year is around 6C and the air which has ridden across the lake this week has been well below freezing, at times as low as -25C (-13F), coming from Canada.
The snow eased off for a while during Friday and allowed residents to come out of their houses bearing shovels to dig a route to the shops and gather stocks, ready for another blast of snow from the lake this weekend.
Snow started falling again on Saturday morning across eastern parts of the lake, with the National Weather Service issuing a warning for heavy lake effect snow to fall until Monday. The Weather Service has forecast that snow could fall at a rate of around 3 to 4 inches an hour and by Monday there could be another 2-4ft (61-122cm), which could mean some western areas of Oswego County have over 11ft (360cm) of snow.
The area along eastern Lake Ontario is used to heavy snowfalls produced by the lake. It usually gets a five to six foot snowfall every two or three years.
Through the coming week it is going to remain cold with temperatures well below freezing, perhaps as low as -23C (-9F) on Monday night. With temperatures so low no thaw of the snow will occur and with more heavy snowfall predicted for Wednesday the amounts will keep on totting up.
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