NSF PR 98-9 - February 11, 1998
This material is available primarily for archival
purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information
may be out of date; please see current contact information
at media
contacts.
In Search of Bad Weather: Scientists Study Lake-Effect
Winter Storms
Scientists from some 14 institutions are braving the
elements on the icy Great Lakes in an intensive field
program underway this winter. Researchers on this
Lake-Induced Convection Experiment, or Lake-ICE, are
trying to better understand midwest meteorology and
lake-effect winter storms. Lake-ICE is funded by the
National Science Foundation (NSF).
"The Great Lakes appear to have a significant impact
on the weather over much of the eastern United States
and Canada," explains Steve Nelson, director of NSF's
mesoscale dynamic meteorology program. Cities on the
south and east sides of the Great Lakes, such as Cleveland
and Buffalo, owe much of their snow accumulation each
winter to lake-effect storms.
"Anyone who's around the Great Lakes knows about lake-effect
snowstorms, and how disruptive they can be. Results
from Lake-ICE will likely translate into better forecasts
of timing, location and intensity of lake-effect snow,"
says Nelson.
Using aircraft and other research equipment, scientists
from the University of Michigan, the University of
Wisconsin, the University of Illinois and other universities
will determine how the Great Lakes affect arctic air
masses in winter and how heat and moisture from the
lakes circulate on several scales. For these researchers,
bad weather is great news -- then they can get out
in the field and study their subject.
Working through sleet, snow and icy fog, Lake-ICE
researchers hope to gain a better understanding of
the Great Lakes' influence on weather both nearby
and far away and, more generally, of how the atmosphere
reacts to exchanges of heat and moisture with large
bodies of water. Project scientists are gathering
information on different kinds of lake-effect storms,
called "storm flavors."
One flavor of storm, for example, lines up in a single
band of clouds and dumps snow in one area, like the
Indiana towns located along the bend in Lake Michigan.
Another storm flavor forms into parallel rows of clouds,
showering some cities with snow and sleet but leaving
others untouched. By better understanding the processes
that lead to various storm flavors, forecasting will
improve not only in the midwest, but in the east as
well. "What happens in the Great Lakes appears to
impact storm development as far away as the eastern
seaboard," says Nelson.
Although results won't be known immediately, if all
goes well, Lake-ICE may soon be making a difference
by better predicting next winter's storms for those
who live in the Great Lakes snowbelt, and along the
entire east coast.
|