What causes lake effect snow?

Cold air passing over warmer lake water

The distance wind travels over open water

Areas downwind of lakes that get heavy snow

Lake Effect Snow Quiz: Great Lakes Snow Bands Explained

Cold winds crossing warm lake water can bury one town while the next stays clear, and this lake effect snow quiz explains how. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on cold air over warm water, snow bands, fetch, snowbelts, Tug Hill, Buffalo's Snowvember, Erie, thundersnow, frozen lakes and lake effect beyond the Great Lakes.

Start Lake Effect Snow Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Cause
What causes lake effect snow?
Bands
What shape do lake effect snowfalls often take?
Fetch
What is fetch?
Snowbelt
What are snowbelts?
Tug Hill
Which New York plateau is famous for huge lake effect totals?
Buffalo
What was the November 2014 Buffalo storm nicknamed?
Erie
Which Pennsylvania city on Lake Erie set a Christmas snow record in 2017?
Thunder
What rare weather can occur in intense lake effect bands?
Season
Why does lake effect snow usually fade in late winter?
Elsewhere
Which other lake can produce lake effect snow?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What causes lake effect snow?
Answer: Cold air passing over warmer lake water
The air picks up heat and moisture.
Q2: What shape do lake effect snowfalls often take?
Answer: Narrow bands
One town can get buried while another stays clear.
Q3: What is fetch?
Answer: The distance wind travels over open water
Longer fetch means more moisture.
Q4: What are snowbelts?
Answer: Areas downwind of lakes that get heavy snow
They lie east or southeast of lakes.
Q5: Which New York plateau is famous for huge lake effect totals?
Answer: Tug Hill
It sits east of Lake Ontario.
Q6: What was the November 2014 Buffalo storm nicknamed?
Answer: Snowvember
Some areas got around 2 meters.
Q7: Which Pennsylvania city on Lake Erie set a Christmas snow record in 2017?
Answer: Erie
It got over 1.5 meters in two days.
Q8: What rare weather can occur in intense lake effect bands?
Answer: Thundersnow
Lightning flashes in snow.
Q9: Why does lake effect snow usually fade in late winter?
Answer: Lakes freeze or cool down
Less open water means less moisture.
Q10: Which other lake can produce lake effect snow?
Answer: The Great Salt Lake
It affects Salt Lake City.

Lake Effect Snow Quiz – Great Lakes Snow Bands Explained

Lake effect snow forms when cold air flows over warmer lake water. The air gains heat and moisture, rises and forms clouds that drop heavy snow downwind, often in narrow bands that can bury one town while the next stays clear.

The longer the fetch, or distance over water, the heavier the snow. Snowbelts east and southeast of the Great Lakes, such as New York's Tug Hill Plateau, see huge totals. In November 2014, Buffalo's Snowvember storm dropped around 2 meters in places, and Erie, Pennsylvania, set a record at Christmas 2017.

Intense bands can produce thundersnow. Lake effect snow fades when lakes freeze or cool, and it can also occur near other large lakes, including the Great Salt Lake.

What This Quiz Teaches

Weather fans will enjoy these questions.

What causes lake effect snow
Why bands form
Where snowbelts are
Which storms set records
When it stops

Did You Know?

Lake Superior rarely freezes completely.
Forecasters track wind direction closely.
Snowfall rates can exceed 10 cm per hour.
Lake effect rain happens in warmer months.
Ski areas in Michigan benefit from it.