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UrbScotty

(23,979 posts)
Sun Jun 8, 2014, 09:52 PM Jun 2014

As of June 7, the Great Lakes are finally ice-free

The year's lake ice was one for the record books. This was the latest complete melt on the Great Lakes since NOAA started keeping records back in the 1970s. The season also saw the second-highest amount of ice ever recorded, with just over 92% covering the five bodies of water at the beginning of March, coming close to the all-time record 94% coverage seen in 1979. This year also broke the record for the most ice seen so late in the season, with over one-third of the lakes still covered in ice on April 23.

The lack or presence of ice can have a huge impact on the weather, but it depends on the season.

The most obvious effect that lake ice has on the weather is lake-effect snow, which occurs when cold air moves over the warmer waters. The warmer lake water heats up air at the surface through conduction, and the warmer air begins to rapidly rise through the much colder air above.

The result is convection, which sets up as heavy snow bands that move over land. When the lakes freeze over, lake-effect snow stops. This is why areas on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario some of the highest annual snowfall totals in the country; Lake Ontario hardly ever freezes over during the winter.


http://thevane.gawker.com/its-june-7-and-the-great-lakes-are-finally-ice-free-1587437228
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