Lake effect

I remember when I was a kid I used to begrudge those who lived in western New York because they got "lake effect snow". "Unfortunately", the lake effect snows died out somewhere near Utica and never reached us in the suburbs of Albany.

The lake is Lake Ontario and when the lake isn't frozen any passing winter storm can juice up over this huge body of water and then dump what it's collected on the towns and cities along the lake's eastern shore. A good lake effect storm will reach as far as Utica, but generally there's little left by the time the snow reaches Albany.

I can remember one time my cousins in Watertown got a month off school when something like 80 inches of snow fell in a week. Oswego, NY is "enjoying" something similar right now. They've had nearly 6 feet of snow since Saturday with another two or more feet in the forecast. "It’s like putting one end of a hose into the lake and then taking the nozzle and pointing it in one direction over Oswego County".


from the Oswego Palladium Times.