[ithacaartist]

Despite the recent potential for snow in Florida's pan handle this week, you guys down there will NEVER have to deal with lake effect snow! My home town of Watertown NY is located on the northern edge of one of these zones, and three-foot overnight snowfalls are not out of the question!

How it works: The prevailing winds bring cold air from Canada. This cold air is loaded up with moisture as it crosses any of the great lakes, and this moisture is dumped on the leeward land areas in the form of snow. Rich and I are in areas where lake effect snow is not really the norm, but the potential exists--triggered by just the right conditions and wind direction. The usual "bands" of this snow run roughly West to East, which is why Buffalo (from Lake Erie) and Parish (from Ontario) can expect to do battle with snow regularly. The wind has traveled the entire lengths of these lakes, picking up the max moisture.

I'm too far South of Lake Ontario, too far East of Erie, to be threatened regularly. A North wind will dump white stuff on Rich--near Rochester--because it has traveled the width of Lake Ontario, which is enough to pick up that moisture. When the wind is just-so, out of the N/NW, it will have picked up enough moisture, having traveled the length of Cayuga Lake, to result in a mini lake effect for the city of Ithaca, itself, but would not affect outlying areas since the band is narrow.

SUNY Oswego is reputed to have guide ropes on campus, so the students don't get lost in white-out conditions while walking from one building to another. My nephew attended Oswego, and I think I remember his confirmation of this.