Upstate/Eastern New York- Jan 9-11 Lake Effect Snow Event

[Syrmax]

8 minutes ago, TugHillMatt said:

I remember discussing with some people years ago the diurnal and nocturnal effects on lake effect snow. For example, especially as we get later in the season, the sun's heating tends to create a more cellular structure as opposed to a single band. Then, at night, more solid banding tends to form. You don't read too much about this in NWS discussions though.

I think that's right. Daytime heating does cause enough instability to create a cellular nature. That's part of it certainly.

[tombo82685]

its dumping right now under that weenie band with Gbay and Ontario connection. 

[wolfie09]

Hi Rez Canadian brings that band pretty far north, even a little north of me until the front swings it back through.. Jackpots Carol..

 

[tombo82685]

How do you measure this stuff? Wind just blows it right off my white board. 

[BuffaloWeather]

[tombo82685]

1.7 last hour, not bad 

[tim123]

Becoming very squally in roc. Band from Huron over ontario. Probably won't last long as wind is backing more west now. Eastern lake ontario is about to launch off.

[Blue Moon]

We're rocking right now in Oswego!

Btw, question for y'all: although the temp profile is below freezing from the CL to surface where I am, I have received all graupel so far. Is this because the wind is blowing graupel onshore from the lake nearby? I'm just a half mile from the lake, so it makes some sense to me if the sfc. temp above the lake is above freezing and graupel is what's falling there.

 

Thanks!

[tim123]

Good squall coming through.

[LakeEffectKing]

Impressive maintenance of structure all the way to Albany. Mohawk Valley convergence FTW.

 

[Polarbear]

Hit snow just south of driver’s village. Lost sight of the rd around Cicero with the worst from about Oneida lake up to parish, especially closer to parish. As soon as I hit exit 33 shut right off and was more intermittent til near Pulaski where it briefly picked up again. Rds cleared up around pierpont roughly, dry in Watertown . Headed back down in a few minutes…

[Ericjcrash]

21 minutes ago, LakeEffectKing said:

Impressive maintenance of structure all the way to Albany. Mohawk Valley convergence FTW.

 

Yeah, I got extremely lucky. Eyeballing a couple of inches out of the window.

[LakeEffectKing]

33 minutes ago, Polarbear said:

Hit snow just south of driver’s village. Lost sight of the rd around Cicero with the worst from about Oneida lake up to parish, especially closer to parish. As soon as I hit exit 33 shut right off and was more intermittent til near Pulaski where it briefly picked up again. Rds cleared up around pierpont roughly, dry in Watertown . Headed back down in a few minutes…

 How much snow has fallen, would you estimate, around Parish?

[Syrmax]

Flurries here. Only accumulation has been from the frontal snow last night. About 1" total. It's all north of here as expected.

Off to Hancock shortly...

[Polarbear]

1 hour ago, LakeEffectKing said:

 How much snow has fallen, would you estimate, around Parish?

I’d guess 8-10”, solid 3-4” on 81 at the Mexico exit coming back. Seemed like the band consolidated a little and moved N.  Hit snow near sandy creek but out of it by central square 

[CNY_WX]

1 hour ago, Ericjcrash said:

Yeah, I got extremely lucky. Eyeballing a couple of inches out of the window.

Look at the intensity of the band just north of you around Perth. It’s only about 3-4 miles wide but is probably producing 1-2 inches per hour. I assume you’re south of that. Just like me it’s very frustrating to be a spectator in a front row seat.

[CNY_WX]

The center of the band appears to be right along the route 104 corridor in Mexico.  I might have gotten a couple of inches overnight but right now I’m right on the edge watching a flake fly by every now and then. 

[wolfie09]

We got a light accumulation overnight night, not sure how much at the moment, maybe a couple inches..The heart of the band is just to the south at the moment..

[Syrmax]

Just back from Hancock Field. Rt 481 and I-81 just wet. Same with Rt 31 in Clay now.  My road was untouched when I left but plowed since. 

[TugHillMatt]

Rgem wins again.

[Syrmax]

19 minutes ago, CNY_WX said:

Look at the intensity of the band just north of you around Perth. It’s only about 3-4 miles wide but is probably producing 1-2 inches per hour. I assume you’re south of that. Just like me it’s very frustrating to be a spectator in a front row seat.

That band makes it all the way to NE CT. Pretty cool.

[DeltaT13]

5 hours ago, Blue Moon said:

We're rocking right now in Oswego!

Btw, question for y'all: although the temp profile is below freezing from the CL to surface where I am, I have received all graupel so far. Is this because the wind is blowing graupel onshore from the lake nearby? I'm just a half mile from the lake, so it makes some sense to me if the sfc. temp above the lake is above freezing and graupel is what's falling there.

 

Thanks!

I think the convective nature of lake effect causes a lot of vertical mixing within the cloud as strong updrafts cycle snow that is currently falling back up into the portion of the cloud where water is condensing and snow is forming. The combination of these strong updrafts smashing snowflakes together along with a lot of Latent heat release eventually forms the graupel pellets.  That’s just my guess at least. I always see graupel in the really heavy bands though, including last week in Buffalo 

[wolfie09]

Pulaski south exit vs pulaski north exit..

[CNY_WX]

2 minutes ago, wolfie09 said:

Pulaski south exit vs pulaski north exit..

I’m not sure exactly where you are in relation to Pulaski but I think you’ll be in the middle of it soon. The band is still moving north. 

[Syrmax]

From KBUF AFD re: tonight...interesting shoreline mention for the ROC people...

Locally enhanced low level convergence
near Irondequoit Bay and Mexico Bay (driven by concave lake shorelines) may produce locally better snowfall rates, including the
eastern suburbs of Rochester.

[CNY_WX]

Interesting view from my Ring camera this morning.  It faces almost due east so north is to the left and south to the right. As the sun rises you can see the heavy cloud cover from the lake band to the north while the skies brighten to the south. I am close to the southern edge of the band. 

[CNYWeather]

3.2" overnight in Westmoreland. Snow stopped as of 7:15am

[wolfie09]

..A BAND OF HEAVY SNOW WILL AFFECT PARTS OF JEFFERSON...OSWEGO...
LEWIS...AND NORTHERN CAYUGA COUNTIES...

HAZARDS...A band of heavy snow which can rapidly reduce visibility to
less than a quarter of a mile. This band of heavy snow is producing
extremely heavy snow at the rate of 2 to 3 inches per hour.

LOCATION AND MOVEMENT...a band of heavy snow was located north of
Central Square and oriented west to east across the northern portion
of Oswego county. This band of heavy snow will slowly drift a bit
further north across Oswego county this morning. Expected snow
covered roadways and difficult driving conditions, especially if
traveling on I-81 from Parish to Mannsville.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
Oswego, Fulton, Sandy Island Beach State Park, Fair Haven Beach
State Park, Pulaski, Central Square, Redfield, Selkirk Shores State
Park, Highmarket, Mexico Point State Park, Nine Mile Point, Battle
Island State Park, Hastings, Scriba, Volney, Richland, Constantia,
West Monroe, Palermo and New Haven.

This includes Interstate 81 between exits 32 and 40.

[TugHillMatt]

May you get dumped on today, Wolfie, Blue Moon, and tombo. Enjoy!

[tombo82685]

If I get into that band it will be by the hair of my chinny chin chin. Going to be close. Rgem and hrdps most aggressive.