Less ice coverage - Long lake-effect snow season

If you've noticed, lake-effect snow season hasn't really slowed, especially in the interior Northeast. This has to do with the below-average ice coverage.

Although this winter has had its fair share of cold snaps - see the central U.S. on the TemperatureRadar right now - not all locations have benefitted from the frigid temperatures. When the Great Lakes have plentiful ice on them, the lake-effect snow machine eventually takes a hiatus, usually in the late winter months.

This season, lake ice has overall been below average across all of the Great Lakes. Lake Erie is the only one that is almost entirely covered in ice, which bodes well for Northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania. Lake Ontario (<20 percent ice coverage), however, has been assisting in the production of more than 100 inches of lake effect snowfall for central New York in February alone!

So what helps in the production of lake ice in the winter? A couple of things come into play.

If we want to see more ice, we need to have longer periods of freezing or sub-freezing temperatures sitting over the lakes. Additionally, the depth of the lake has an effect on how quickly ice forms. The deeper the lake, the longer it takes for the water to cool and freeze. This is why we often see the ice first form along the shoreline, where the depth is shallow.

For the next lake effect snowfall forecast, see the WeatherRadar!