The Lake Ontario Winter Storms (LOWS) Project

Reinking, Roger F.; Caiazza, Roger; Kropfli, R. A.; Orr, Brad W.; Martner, Brooks E.; Niziol, Thomas A.; Byrd, Gregory P.; Penc, Richard S.; Zamora, R. J.; Snider, J. B.; Ballentine, Robert J.; Stamm, Alfred J.; Bedford, Christopher; Joe, Paul; Koscielny, Albert J.

doi:10.1175/1520-0477-74-10-1828

Cited by 64 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…These data reflect a precipitation-altitude relationship that has been frequently observed downstream of the GSL and other bodies of water (e.g., Hill 1971;Reinking et al 1993;Saito et al 1996;Steenburgh and Onton 2001;Onton and Steenburgh 2001;Steenburgh 2003;Yeager et al 2013). Potential contributors to the increase in precipitation with elevation include the following: 1) increased vertical motions forced by steep terrain, 2) subcloud evaporation and/or sublimation over adjacent lowland areas, 3) advection of slow-falling hydrometeors into downstream terrain, and 4) increased precipitation efficiency due to higher ice-nucleation rates when parcels are lifted to colder temperatures (e.g., Saito et al 1996).…”

Section: E Downstream Orographic Influencessupporting

confidence: 76%

Orographic Influences on a Great Salt Lake–Effect Snowstorm

Alcott

Steenburgh

2013

Monthly Weather Review

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Although several mountain ranges surround the Great Salt Lake (GSL) of northern Utah, the extent to which orography modifies GSL-effect precipitation remains largely unknown. Here the authors use observational and numerical modeling approaches to examine the influence of orography on the GSL-effect snowstorm of 27 October 2010, which generated 6-10 mm of precipitation (snow-water equivalent) in the Salt Lake Valley and up to 30 cm of snow in the Wasatch Mountains. The authors find that the primary orographic influences on the event are 1) foehnlike flow over the upstream orography that warms and dries the incipient low-level air mass and reduces precipitation coverage and intensity; 2) orographically forced convergence that extends downstream from the upstream orography, is enhanced by blocking windward of the Promontory Mountains, and affects the structure and evolution of the lake-effect precipitation band; and 3) blocking by the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountains, which funnels the flow into the Salt Lake Valley, reinforces the thermally driven convergence generated by the GSL, and strongly enhances precipitation. The latter represents a synergistic interaction between lake and downstream orographic processes that is crucial for precipitation development, with a dramatic decrease in precipitation intensity and coverage evident in simulations in which either the lake or the orography are removed. These results help elucidate the spectrum of lake-orographic processes that contribute to lake-effect events and may be broadly applicable to other regions where lake effect precipitation occurs in proximity to complex terrain.

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Section: E Downstream Orographic Influencessupporting

confidence: 76%

Orographic Influences on a Great Salt Lake–Effect Snowstorm

Alcott

Steenburgh

2013

Monthly Weather Review

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“…Nearly threequarters of the cases that produced above-average snowfall were associated with inversion heights >2000 m, whereas only one-third of below-average cases surpassed that threshold. This is in agreement with findings from the Lake Ontario Winter Storms Project, which revealed that the height of the capping inversions was a major factor controlling the intensity of LES events (Reinking et al 1993).…”

Section: A Simple Regressionssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…The intensity of LES events has been shown to be a function of several environmental conditions, including the temperature difference between the lake and the overlying air, the fetch (i.e., the distance that the air mass travels over the lake), the unstable layer's depth and wind shear, the strength of the capping inversion, and lifting by topography or dynamic mechanisms (Wiggin 1950;Jiusto et al 1970;Hill 1971;Niziol 1982;Byrd et al 1991;Hjelmfelt 1992;Reinking et al 1993;Lackmann 2001;Laird et al 2003;Evans and Murphy 2008). Additionally, sensible and latent heat fluxes have been shown to be related to lake ice cover; and ice thickness plays an important role in these fluxes (Zulauf and Krueger 2003;Cordeira and Laird 2008;Gerbush et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multivariate analysis of lake-effect snowstorms in western New York

Pereira¹,

Muscato²

2013

J. Operational Meteor.

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The Great Lakes region of the United States is subjected to a wintertime convective phenomenon known as lake-effect snow (LES). These events are capable of producing significant quantities of snow over localized areas by developing elongated bands that tap into heat and moisture exchanges between the warm lake surface and the overlying continental polar air. Several factors are believed to affect the snowfall intensity associated with LES events, including the ice coverage over the lake where the snowbands originate. Improvements in the quality of snowfall forecasts associated with these LES events require an approach that uses a larger number of events than used in previously investigated case studies. The intensity of 91 LES events was assessed using the total volume of snow (snow depth multiplied by snow coverage area) per day in western New York as reported by the National Weather Service in Buffalo, New York, from 1998-2011. These events were cross-referenced against the fetch, capping inversion height, thermodynamic instability, wind speed, and ice coverage over Lake Erie during each event. A multivariate regression revealed that only fetch, inversion height, and ice coverage were statistically significant in determining the intensity of the LES event, with ice coverage having the greatest impact. These parameters accounted for approximately 30% of the overall snowfall volume variability in our LES events. An examination of two events demonstrated that other environmental controls-such as orography and low-level moisture-may have affected the quality of the snowfall predicted by our regression.

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“…Past investigations of LE snow storms in the Great Lakes region have primarily focused on events that have developed over ice-free regions (e.g., Braham 1983;Reinking et al 1993;Ballentine et al 1998;Kristovich et al 2000). This study presents two LE snow events that occurred downwind of Lake Erie on 12-14 February 2003 and 28-31 January 2004, which lead to maximum snowfall totals of 43 and 64 cm, respectively, in western New York state during time periods when widespread ice cover was present over Lake Erie (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Ice Cover on Two Lake-Effect Snow Events over Lake Erie

Cordeira

Laird

2008

Monthly Weather Review

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It is generally understood that extensive regions of significant lake ice cover impact lake-effect (LE) snow storms by decreasing the upward heat and moisture fluxes from the lake surface; however, it is only recently that studies have been conducted to more thoroughly examine this relationship. This study provides the first examination of Great Lakes LE snow storms that developed in association with an extensively ice-covered lake. The LE snow events that occurred downwind of Lake Erie on 12-14 February 2003 and 28-31 January 2004 produced maximum snowfall totals of 43 and 64 cm in western New York state, respectively. The presence of widespread ice cover led these snows to be less anticipated than snowfalls from Lake Ontario, which had limited ice cover. For both events, a variety of ice-cover conditions and meso-and synoptic-scale factors (i) helped support LE snow storm development, (ii) lead to the transitions in LE convective type, and (iii) resulted in noteworthy snowfalls near Lake Erie. Thinner ice cover along with favorable fetch directions during the 2004 event likely aided the development of more significant snowband time periods and the resulting greater snowfall. Although Lake Erie had regions with lower ice concentration during the 2003 event, thicker ice cover was present across a greater area of the lake, fetch directions during lake-effect time periods were positioned over higher ice concentration regions, and snowbands had a shorter duration and impacted the same region to a lesser degree than the 2004 case.

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The Lake Ontario Winter Storms (LOWS) Project

Cited by 64 publications

References 16 publications

Orographic Influences on a Great Salt Lake–Effect Snowstorm

Orographic Influences on a Great Salt Lake–Effect Snowstorm

Multivariate analysis of lake-effect snowstorms in western New York

The Influence of Ice Cover on Two Lake-Effect Snow Events over Lake Erie

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