Abstract
Observations of lake-effect storms that occur over the Great Lakes region during late autumn and winter indicate a high sensitivity to ambient wind speed and direction. In this paper, a two-dimensional version of the Penn State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) model is used to investigate the wind speed effects on lake-effect snowstorms that occur over the Great Lakes region.
Theoretical initial conditions for stability, relative humidity, wind velocity, and lake/land temperature distribution are specified. Nine different experiments are performed using wind speeds ofU=0, 2, 4,..., 16 m s−1. The perturbation wind, temperature, and moisture fields for each experiment after 36 h of simulation are compared.
It is determined that moderate (4–6 m s−1) wind speeds result in maximum precipitation (snowfall) on the lee shore of the model lake. Weak wind speeds (0≤U<4 m s−1) yield significantly higher snowfall amounts over the lake along with a spatially concentrated and intense response. Strong wind speeds (6<U≤16 m s−1), yield very little, if any, significant snowfall, although significant increases in cloudiness, temperature, and perturbation wind speed occur hundreds of kilometers downwind from the lake.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agee, E. M. and Gilbert, S. R.: 1989, ‘An Aircraft Investigation of Mesoscale Convection over Lake Michigan During the 10 January 1984 Cold Air Outbreak’,J. Atmos. Sci. 46, 1877–1897.
Anthes, R. A., Hsie, E.-Y. and Kuo, Y.-H.: 1987, ‘Description of the Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 4 (MM4)’, NCAR Technical note NCAR/TN-282+STR, 66pp.
Arritt, R. W.: 1991, ‘A Numerical Study of Sea Breeze Frontogenesis’,Fifth Conference on Meteorology and Oceanography of the Coastal Zone 26–29, Miami, 1991.
Blackadar, A. K.: 1976, ‘High Resolution Models of the Planetary Boundary Layer’, in Pfafflin and Ziegler (eds),Advances in Environmental Science and Engineering 1, Gordon and Breach, New York, pp. 50–85.
Bretherton, C. S.: 1988, ‘Group Velocity and Linear Response of Stratified Fluids to Internal Heat or Mass Sources’,J. Atmos. Sci. 45, 81–93.
Briggs, W. G. and Graves, M. E.: 1962, ‘A Lake Breeze Index’,J. Appl. Meteorol 23, 939–949.
Danard, M. B. and Rao, G. V.: 1972, ‘Numerical Study of the Effects of the Great Lakes on a Winter Cyclone’,Mon. Wea Rev. 100, 374–382.
DeMaria, M.: 1985, ‘Linear Response of a Stratified Tropical Atmosphere to Convective Forcing’,J. Atmos. Sci. 42, 1944–1959.
Forbes, G. S. and Merritt, J. M.: 1984, ‘Mesoscale Vortices over the Great Lakes in Wintertime’,Mon. Wea. Rev. 112, 377–381.
Grossman, R. L. and Betts, A. K.: 1990, ‘Air-Sea Interaction During an Extreme Cold Air Outbreak from the Eastern Coast of the United States’,Mon. Wea. Rev. 118, 324–342.
Hayashi, Y.: 1976, ‘Non-Singular Resonance of Equatorial Waves Under the Radiation Condition’,J. Atmos. Sci. 33, 183–201.
Hsie, E.-Y., Anthes, R. A. and Keyser, D.: 1984, ‘Numerical Simulation of Frontogenesis in a Moist Atmosphere’,J. Amos. Sci 41, 2581–2594.
Hjelmfelt, M. R.: 1992, ‘Orographic Effects in Simulated Lake-Effect Snowstorms Over Lake Michigan’,Mon. Wea. Rev. 120, 373–377.
Hjelmfelt, M. R.: 1990, ‘Numerical Study of the Influence of Environmental Conditions on Lake-Effect Snowstorms Over Lake Michigan’,Mon. Wea. Rev. 118, 138–150.
Hsu, H.-M.: 1987, ‘Mesoscale Lake-Effect Snowstorms in the Vicinity of Lake Michigan: Linear Theory and Numerical Simulations’,J. Atmos. Sci. 44, 1019–1040.
Huang, C.-Y. and Raman, S.: 1990, ‘Numerical Simulations of Cold Air Advections over the Appalachian Mountains and the Gulf Stream’,Mon. Wea. Rev. 118, 343–362.
Kelly, R. D.: 1986, ‘Mesoscale Frequencies and Seasonal Snowfall for Different Types of Lake Michigan Snowstorms’.J. Climate Appl. Meteorol.,25, 308–321.
Kelly, R. D.: 1982, ‘A Single Doppler Radar Study of Horizontal Roll Convection in a Lake-Effect Snow Storm’,J. Atmos. Sci. 39, 1521–1531.
Lavoie, R. L.: 1972, ‘A Mesoscale Numerical Model of Lake-Effect Storms’,J. Atmos. Sci. 29, 1025–1040.
Lin, Y.-L.: 1989, ‘Inertial and Frictional Effects of Stratified Hydrostatic Airflow Past an Isolated Heat Ssurce’,J. Atmos. Sci. 46, 921–936.
Mitchell, C. L.: 1921, ‘Snow Flurries Along the Eastern Shore of Lake Michigan’,Mon. Wea. Rev. 49, 502–503.
Nitta, T.: 1976, ‘Large-Scale Heat and Moisture Budgets During the Air Mass Transformation Experiment’,J. Meteorol. Soc. Japan 54, 1–14.
Niziol, T. A.: 1987, ‘Operational Forecasting of Lake-Effect Snowfall in Western and Central New York’,Wea. Forecasting 2, 310–321.
Passarelli, R. E., Jr. and Braham, Jr, R. R.: 1981, ‘The Role of the Winter Land Breeze in the Formation of Great Lakes Snowstorms’,Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 82, 482–491.
Penc, R. S., Williams, S. R., Albrecht, B. A. and Caiazza, R.: 1991, ‘Wind Profiler Measurements in the Vicinity of Lake-Effect Snowbands: Some Preliminary Findings’,Seventh Symposium on Meteorological Observations and Instrumentation Preprints, New Orleans, LA, Amer. Meteorol Soc., pp. 69–72.
Physick, W. L. and Tapper, N. J.: 1990, ‘A Numerical Study of Circulations Induced by A Dry Salt Lake’,Mon. Wea. Rev. 118, 1029–1042.
Persson, P. O. G. and Warner, T. T.: 1990, ‘Model Generation of Spurious Gravity Waves due to Inconsistency of the Vertical and Horizontal Resolution’,J. Atmos. Sci. 48, 1–19.
Raymond, D. J.: 1986, ‘Prescribed Heating of a Stratified Atmosphere as a Model for Moist Convection’,J. Atmos. Sci. 43, 1101–1111.
Remick, Lt. J. T.: 1942, ‘The Effect of Lake Erie on the Local Distribution of Precipitation in Winter (II)’,Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 23, 111–116.
Rothrock, H. J.: 1969, ‘An Aid in Forecasting Significant Lake Snows’,Tech. Memo, WBTM CR-30, National Weather Service, Central Region, Kansas City, 12 pp.
Sousounis, P. J. and Shirer, H. N.: 1992, ‘Lake Aggregate Mesoscale Disturbances, Part I: Linear Analysis’,J. Atmos. Sci. 48, 80–96.
Sun, W.-Y. and Hsu, W. R.: 1988, ‘Numerical Study of a Cold Air Outbreak Over the Ocean’,J. Atmos. Sci. 45, 1205–1227.
Sun, W.-Y. and Yildirim, A.: 1989, ‘Air mass Modification over Lake Michigan’,Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 26, 101–117.
Walsh, John E.: 1974, ‘Sea Breeze Theory and Applications’,J. Atmos. Sci. 31, 2012–2026.
Warner, T. T. and Seaman, N. L.: 1990, ‘A Real-Time Mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction System Used for Research, Teaching, and Public Service at the Pennsylvania State University’,Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 71, 792–805.
Yamada, T.: 1983, ‘Simulations of Nocturnal Drainage Flows by aq 2 l Turbulence Closure Model’,J. Atmos. Sci. 40, 91–106.
Yuen, C.-W. and Young, J. A.: 1986, ‘Dynamic Adjustment Theory for Boundary Layer Flow in Cold Surges’,J. Atmos. Sci. 43, 3089–3108.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sousounis, P.J. A numerical investigation of wind speed effects on lake-effect storms. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 64, 261–290 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708966
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708966