Climatology of Lake-Effect Precipitation Events over Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake

Abstract

The frequency, timing, and environmental conditions of lake-effect (LE) precipitation over Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake in northern California and western Nevada were examined for the 14 winters (September–March) from 1996/97 through 2009/10. Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) data from Reno, Nevada (KRGX), were used to identify 62 LE events. LE precipitation occurred as single bands extending downwind from overlake areas, and as isolated regions of overlake precipitation with little or no extension over land. Mesoscale vortices were also identified during both Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake LE events. An average of 4.4 LE events occurred each winter in the Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake region, with events occurring most frequently in October. LE events had an average duration of 6.3 h, approximately half the duration of LE events observed over Lake Champlain, the New York State Finger Lakes, or the Great Salt Lake. The observed conditions during LE events in the Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake region typically had 1) mean surface air temperatures below freezing, 2) mean surface wind speeds of <2.0 m s−1 (notably weaker than during lake effect in other areas), 3) a mean lake–air temperature difference of 11.5°C, and 4) a mean lake–700-hPa temperature difference of 20.9°C.

Climatology of cold season lake‐effect cloud bands for the North American Great Lakes

“…The approach used in this study should have widespread application as similar mesoscale systems and cloud bands have been observed in a large number of locations beyond the Great Lakes region. These systems develop in similar atmospheric environments where boundary layer destabilization occurs from cold air masses moving over relatively warm water, and have been observed and investigated in regions including: the English Channel and Irish Sea (Norris et al , ), the Gulf of Finland (Mazon et al , ; Savijärvi, ), the Baltic Sea (Andersson and Nilsson, ; Andersson and Gustafsson, ), the Labrador Sea (Renfrew and Moore, ; Liu et al , ), the Greenland Sea (Brümmer et al , ; Brümmer and Pohlmann, ), the Beaufort Sea (Mourad and Walter, ), the Bering Sea (Walter, ), the Sea of Japan (Asai and Miura, ; Tusboki et al , ; Nakai et al , ) and several other North American bodies of water, such as the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays (Sikora and Halverson, ), Lake Champlain (Laird et al , ), the Finger Lakes (Laird et al , ), Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake (Laird et al ., ), and the Great Salt Lake (Alcott et al , ).…”

Sea-Effect Precipitation over the Shandong Peninsula, Northern China

“…Several aspects of LEP have been analyzed, such as initial and ending time, duration time, surface temperature, lakeair temperature difference, sea-land breeze, and other atmospheric conditions. LEP mostly is initiated overnight and in the morning and dissipates in the afternoon (Laird et al 2009a). The duration of individual LEP events varies with the size of the water bodies.…”

“…The duration of individual LEP events varies with the size of the water bodies. The average duration is 9.4 h for the New York State Finger Lakes (six easternmost Finger Lakes, ranging in surface area from 7.6 to 175 km 2 ; Laird et al 2009b), 12.1 h for Lake Champlain (1127 km 2 ; Laird et al 2009a), 19.5 h for Lake Ontario (the smallest of the Great Lakes at 18 960 km 2 ) and the Tug Hill region (Veals and Steenburgh 2015), and even up to multiple days for larger water bodies of the Great lakes (Laird et al 2009a). The 850-hPa temperature is an important air condition for the development of LEP and has been used as an important indicator for forecasting LEP (Laird et al 2009a).…”

“…The average duration is 9.4 h for the New York State Finger Lakes (six easternmost Finger Lakes, ranging in surface area from 7.6 to 175 km 2 ; Laird et al 2009b), 12.1 h for Lake Champlain (1127 km 2 ; Laird et al 2009a), 19.5 h for Lake Ontario (the smallest of the Great Lakes at 18 960 km 2 ) and the Tug Hill region (Veals and Steenburgh 2015), and even up to multiple days for larger water bodies of the Great lakes (Laird et al 2009a). The 850-hPa temperature is an important air condition for the development of LEP and has been used as an important indicator for forecasting LEP (Laird et al 2009a). Near-surface temperature can also be a good reference index for different LEP types, with mostly LEP as rain when the temperature is above freezing and as snow when the temperature is below freezing (Miner and Fritsch 1997).…”

“…Many studies have documented the various factors that influence LEP, such as the lake breeze (Passarelli and Braham 1981;Laird et al 2009a;Alcott et al 2012), upper-air troughs, surface cold fronts, wind shear, lake-air temperature differences, lake-land temperature differences (Steenburgh et al 2000), and lake ice extent (Cordeira and Laird 2008). Burnett et al (2003) showed that the extent of lake/sea ice has become smaller with global warming, enhancing the frequency and intensity of LEP in the Great Lakes.…”