The Lake Effect

The lake effect Mitten State!

I'm obsessed with the lake effect, especially now that I live in the Great Lakes State, and I live only an hour and a half east of Lake Michigan. Well, I also live about an hour and a half from Lake Huron and, geez, about two hours from Lake Erie. So you could say that it's easy to be interested in the lake effect. The signs of the lake effect, however, drive my interest even more.

Last weekend, we went to Chicago to visit with some friends and get a little "big city" back in our blood. As we were driving through Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, there was quite a bit of snow. It's only about an hour from Lansing, where we had no snow. This stretch-way of snow piqued my interest in the lake effect. So I've done some research. Cold winds, moving across large (often warmer) bodies of water, scoops up the water vapor, freezes it, then drops it. So fascinating, right?!? By now we know that areas around Buffalo are experiencing a severe lake effect. Thankfully, Lansing is far enough inland that we don't get too much of the lake effect from Lake Michigan, although we do feel it a little. Grand Rapids, and other areas along the Lake Michigan coastline feel it, as do areas like Kalamazoo which is much closer to the lake. Thus, snow over the weekend in Kalamazoo. (I mean, we have it now, but they got a lot more).