This website works best with a newer web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported by this website.

CIMSS Satellite Blog

MENU

Record-setting lake effect snow event at Erie, Pennsylvania

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-16 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with hourly surface reports plotted in cyan/yellow [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with hourly surface reports plotted in cyan/yellow [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images centered over Lake Erie (above) showed the evolution of lake effect snow bands on 25 December – 26 December 2017, which produced very heavy snowfall at locations such as Erie, Pennsylvania (station identifier KERI); a Mesoscale Sector provided images at 1-minute intervals. Some noteworthy snowfall records were set at Erie PA:

(27 December Update: additional lake effect snow at Erie on 27 December brought the final storm total accumulation to 65.1 inches: NWS Cleveland summary. NOHRSC plots showed a maximum snow depth of 49 inches just southwest of downtown Erie; the maximum snow depth at Erie International Airport was 28 inches on 26 December, which was still less than their all-time record snow depth of 39 inches on 21 December 1989)

A sequence of Infrared Window images captured by Terra/Aqua MODIS (11.0 µm) and Suomi NPP VIIRS (11.45 µm) is shown below. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures associated with the dominant lake effect snow bands were in the -30 to -35 ºC range (dark blue to pale green color enhancement), similar to what was seen in the GOES-16 Infrared Window imagery.

Infrared Window images from Terra/Aqua MODIS (11.0 µm) and Suomi NPP VIIRS (11.45 µm), with surface reports plotted in yellow [click to enlarge]

Infrared Window images from Terra/Aqua MODIS (11.0 µm) and Suomi NPP VIIRS (11.45 µm), with surface reports plotted in yellow [click to enlarge]

Farther to the northeast, these Lake Erie lake effect bands also produced significant snowfall in far southwestern New York, with 32 inches reported at Perrysburg (located 20 miles west of Dunkirk, station identifier KDKK). In addition, lake effect snow bands over Lake Ontario were responsible for even higher snowfall amounts:


1-minute GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (below) showed the lake effect snow bands over Lake Ontario on 26 December.

1-minute GOES-16 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly surface reports plotted in yellow [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly surface reports plotted in yellow [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: Aqua, GOES-16, MODIS, Suomi NPP, Terra, VIIRS, Winter weather