I read (many years ago) that the Bethlehem Steel plant had a profound effect on the amount of snow Buffalo received each winter. Since it closed, they haven't had the same frequency of crazy snowstorms. Not sure if the the factory's closure was the cause, or that badass, global warming.
Whenever I hear weather reports saying that Buffalo will get 12 inches/30cm of lake effect snow and Toronto gets 30cm/12 inches of non-lake effect snow, what is the difference in the actual snow itself? Is there a qualitative difference in the snows. Do Torontonians have to deal with a different type of snow than Buffalonians? (Which leads me to also ask, are people from Baltimore called Baltimorons?)
Lake effect snow means the snow is wetter and heavier than snow you get if you're more inland which is generally lighter and fluffier. Lake effect snow is a pain to clear since I've done that for 20+ years where I live in Canada especially if the lakes haven't frozen over.
Thanks for that. Does Buffalo get only lake effect snow or is it sometimes non-lake effect?
A lot depends on the way the wind blows and how frozen over the lakes are. And yes Buffalo can get non-lake effect snow.
Lake-effect snow refers to the weather phenomenon itself, as opposed to the density of the snow. It has to do with an air mass picking up moisture as it passes over a body of water. It can be wet and heavy or light and fluffy, depending upon the temperature.
As I suspected, which gets me to the question I want to ask.
