Anyone interested in seeing what Lake Effect looks like?

[hedgehog]

It's actually a smidge too warm for snow, but this radar picture is practicclly a parody of a Lake Effect storm.
http://www.weather.com/outlook/driving/interstate/local/13069?lswe=13069&lwsa=Weather36HourInterstateCommand

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. I used to love lake effect snow.

I lived about 70 miles south of Erie, PA, and when the winds were right you'd get the most monumnental blizzards, sometimes only lasting 20 minutes, sometimes lasting all day. It was always somewhat unpredictable.

I miss snow.

[hedgehog]

3. What I love most about Lake Effect snow is that it can get

pretty ludicrous at times. If there is no thaw between storms, it really piles up. I remember one year that the snow banks got so high I couldn't see around the corners at stop signs, and I was driving a Chevy Suburban! Watertown had even more snow than we did, and I was starting to wonder if anyone had checked recently to see if Watertown was still there!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. in Buffalo NY a couple of years ago

over the course of the Christmas holiday there was 84+ inches of snow in just under 72 hours...absolutely amazing...

sP

[hedgehog]

10. I remember that!

We had to leave my folks because I had work the next day, and we bailed just ahead of the storm. My brother and his family stayed over. Everyone had just enough warning to go out and stock up on perishables like bread, milk and beer, and the whole town just settled down for an extended Christmas celebration!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

11. yep...we were there for three extra days

they actually did an admirable job of keeping the roads clear...I was very impressed...the only problem was that you couldn't find your car !!! :-)

I will be in the sunny south this Christmas...new baby too young to travel!

sP

[acmejack]

2. North of I 90

I remember it well! The good old (pre Jack Welch days) at GE's Electronic Park in Liverpool for many years.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

4. Yep, that's typical of Lake Effect snow..

Yesterday afternoon a friend of mine and myself were driving north on Lake Shore Drive here in Chicago about 2:00 pm. The snow had stopped falling here on the western side of Lake Michigan but you could tell that it was snowing pretty heavily in NW Indiana and SW Michigan.

You could see the clouds forming over Lake Michigan, BTW when this happens these clouds look like "mountains", so us Chicagoans call them "the Michigan mountains". There were some pretty awesome waves crashing on the Chicago lakefront yesterday afternoon as well.

Stay warm and here's hoping you don't get too much lake effect snow.

[Retired AF Dem]

7. I grew up in Griffith IN

next to Gary. I do not miss that snow. It is great if you are a kid and don't have any responsibilities. My wife currently works at Great Lakes Navy base. I haven't had time yet to call her and ask her if she is having fun yet.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

13. Actually, the snow here in Chicago wasn't nearly as bad as they

were predicting and it wasn't lake effect anyway. I think the highest totals were out in the NW burbs, so you're wife should have been OK.

The only real problem area yesterday was out west on I-80. The closed it from LaSalle, IL to I-39 due to the blowing and drifting snow off the corn and soy bean fields out there.

I-80 is open this morning but it's still pretty bad. The local news is telling anyone who has to go to the Quad Cities to avoid I-80 and take I-88 instead.

[Retired AF Dem]

14. Thanks for the update

I have some pics I need to scan and post from the blizzard of 68. Snow drifts that reached the roof of our house.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

18. Are you talking about the "Great Snow storm of January, 1967"??

I do remember it well.. We got like 26" of the white stuff. I was a freshmen in HS and we were off school for about 5 days.

My late mother had driven her new car to work that morning and when she got out of school that afternoon, she couldn't get the car (a 1967 Rambler Ambassador, my parents first "new" car, they had always had used cars before that) out of the school parking lot.

She had to take the CTA home and I remember my brother and I walking over to Ashland Avenue to meet her when her bus finally arrived. At that point, the snow had been falling since about 5:00 am that morning and the drifts were pretty bad even at that point.

The best part though was the next morning when everyone finally decided to dig themselves out. There was a huge lump of snow in the street on the middle of our block. Upon investigation, it turned out to be a VW Beetle, that had gotten stuck in a drift. It belonged to one of the fellas that lived on the next block. When it got stuck, he just abandoned the car and walked the rest of way home.

It was totally surreal. There were cars, busses, trucks, etc. abandoned everywhere in Chicago during that storm. We had a drift in our back yard that was at least 5' high.

As for my Mom's car, my Dad didn't get it back home until about 10 days after the storm.

[hedgehog]

20. I can stand in my folks' front yard in Amherst and see the black

clouds over my in-law's place in Boston, New York. At home, I can look out the window and see blue skies overhead and an absolute black band of clouds over Oswego.

[chelsea0011]

6. Thank you for reminding me of my upcoming trip to Syracuse to

visit the in-laws for xmas. Years ago, when my wife and I were planning out wedding we left sunny Syracuse for a short 30-40 minute drive up north a bit to pick out a wedding cake. Within minutes we were driving through blinding snow and cars all off the road. It was first experience of lake effect.

[hedgehog]

12. I bet you were driving along 481.

That is an incredible road running up the east side of the Oswego River. It's built into the side of a ridge, so the snow just pours across it. I drove home in the fog one night and could see the fog flowing across the road. It's a curvy road with poor lane markers. I think most people don't slide off that road; they drive off when the road curves and they don't. When the weather is bad, Route 48 on the west side of the river is a better bet.

Last winter I was driving along Route 3 when I got caught in a snow squall. I was driving from telephone pole to telephone pole when the road curved and the power line went straight.

[a la izquierda]

8. lololol!

thank god we didn't get that in Oklahoma or the fundies would've thought the world was ending. a few inches of snow and the whole state shuts down.:rofl:

[Retired AF Dem]

9. A few inches?

Come to AL, just mention snow and the state closes down.

[a la izquierda]

16. Hee hee!

People can't drive worth a damn in Oklahoma when it's sunny, so just imagine what the past few days of ice and snow have been like. I grew up in NJ, so I'm fairly used to crummy weather, but Okies can't handle it. I can only imagine what north Texas has been like the last couple of days. Chaos!

[Retired AF Dem]

17. In Jan of 85

I was stationed at Chanute AFB in central IL near Champaign. Absolutely brutal winters. I was slated to attend the Air Force EST School (SWAT) in San Antonio. I thought great get away from the cold and snow for awhile. I get to San Antonio and wouldn't you know it it snows about 14 inches. I will have to admit it was quite entertaining watching the locals attempting to drive in it.

[etherealtruth]

15. I lived on the west coast of Michigan for a while ...

I've seen it.

It sure is beautiful ... but, it certainly is dangerous.

[pansypoo53219]

19. i sure is nice being

on the west side of the lake effect. we don't get it that much.

[SoCalDem]

21. Michigan City, Indiana --30 inches.. South Bend-- 1 inch (30 miles away)

At least that's the way it worked for us for the 7 brutal winters we spent there..

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

22. Hee hee- I have a friend (in Dallas TX) who had to fly to Chicago

on business earlier this week- he's never been up north, and I don't believe he's ever even seen "real" snow before. I'll bet by now he's completely freaked out.

I love it. :rofl: