Lake-effect Snow - Elsewhere in The United States

Elsewhere in The United States

The southern and southeastern sides of the Great Salt Lake receive significant lake-effect snow. Since the Great Salt Lake never freezes, the lake effect can influence the weather along the Wasatch Front year-round. The lake effect largely contributes to the 55–80 inches (140–203 cm) annual snowfall amounts recorded south and east of the lake, and in average snowfall reaching 500 inches (1,270 cm) in the Wasatch Range. The snow, which is often very light and dry because of the semi-arid climate, is referred to as "The Greatest Snow on Earth" in the mountains. Lake-effect snow contributes to approximately 6-8 snowfalls per year in Salt Lake City, with approximately 10% of the city's precipitation being contributed by the phenomenon.

The Finger Lakes of New York are long enough for lake-effect precipitation. The Texas twin cities of Sherman and Denison are known to have experienced lake-effect snow from Lake Texoma in rare instances.

The Truckee Meadows and other parts of Northern Nevada which are normally in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada can, when conditions are right, have severe snowfall as a result of lake effect from Lake Tahoe. Recent severe examples of this phenomenon have occurred as recently as 2004, dumping several feet of snow in the normally dry region.

The West Coast occasionally experiences ocean-effect showers, usually in the form of rain at lower elevations south of about the mouth of the Columbia River. These occur whenever an Arctic air mass from western Canada is drawn westward out over the Pacific Ocean, typically by way of the Fraser Valley, returning shoreward around a center of low pressure. Cold air flowing southwest from the Fraser Valley can also pick up moisture over the Strait of Georgia and Strait of Juan de Fuca, then rise over the northeastern slopes of the Olympic Mountains, producing heavy, localized snow between Port Angeles and Sequim, as well as areas in Kitsap County and the Puget Sound region.

Rarely, the phenomenon of gulf-effect snow has been observed along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, notably during Florida's Great Blizzard of 1899.