News
CLE Myths: Lake Effect Snow
Is geography and Lake Erie all to blame for the East Side getting more snow?
by Alexandra Vicarel | Nov. 25, 2019 | 1:00 PM
Maria Amador
Anyone who has spent more than five minutes with an East Sider knows they’ll eventually bring up how much snow they get — even if it’s the middle of July. They’ll make fantastic claims about drifts taller than Kevin Love or tunneling paths through tundra-like conditions so their dogs can go outside. But if you’re a West Sider ready to roll your eyes and say you’ve got it just as bad, hold your snow-stomping horses.
Betsy Kling, chief meteorologist at 3News, says it’s all true, to the tune of 50 to more than 100 inches last year in the East Side compared to the 40 to 60 the West got.
“Blame Lake Erie,” Kling says, adding that Northeast Ohio’s geography also helps churn up the lake effect snow that hits the East so much harder.
As colder air west and northwest of the Great Lakes moves east, it picks up moisture from the warmer bodies of water, releasing precipitation as it hits land. Since the Cleveland area’s shoreline juts up northeast after the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, the eastward-moving air smacks into areas such as Chardon, which are also colder since they’re at a higher elevation.
“The colder temperatures are key to precipitation type and accumulation,” Kling says. “If we didn’t have the lake, we wouldn’t have nearly as much snow. It would probably be more like Columbus in terms of annual snowfall, which averages to about 22 inches per year.”
Betsy Kling, chief meteorologist at 3News, says it’s all true, to the tune of 50 to more than 100 inches last year in the East Side compared to the 40 to 60 the West got.
“Blame Lake Erie,” Kling says, adding that Northeast Ohio’s geography also helps churn up the lake effect snow that hits the East so much harder.
As colder air west and northwest of the Great Lakes moves east, it picks up moisture from the warmer bodies of water, releasing precipitation as it hits land. Since the Cleveland area’s shoreline juts up northeast after the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, the eastward-moving air smacks into areas such as Chardon, which are also colder since they’re at a higher elevation.
“The colder temperatures are key to precipitation type and accumulation,” Kling says. “If we didn’t have the lake, we wouldn’t have nearly as much snow. It would probably be more like Columbus in terms of annual snowfall, which averages to about 22 inches per year.”
Status: True
Read More: Click here to read the full list of 30 Myths That Define Cleveland
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