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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Lake Erie Frozen Over Due to Gerbil Worming |
| 2010-02-17 |
| It's almost like Gaia's laughing at us this winter... Following a cold snap in the Northeast, Lake Erie's surface is virtually frozen over for the first time in about 14 years. The ice ranges in thickness between paper thin along the northern shore and several inches along the southern shore, where many people are ice skating. GoErie.com reports that the lake hasn't completely frozen since the winter of 1995-1996. Although the ice cover is considered complete, prevailing winds have created some cracks in the ice. There are also reportedly ice chunks floating off the coast of Dunkirk, N.Y., which is one of the deepest parts of the lake and would naturally be one of the last places to freeze. Lake Erie, with an average depth of 62 feet, is the most shallow of the five Great Lakes, which is why it is the only one that completely freezes over. We should still keep the Goracle away from the other four....just in case. Since lake-effect snow depends on warmer lake temperatures compared to the air, the frozen lake will deter large amounts of snowfall to the lee of the lake. The current cold snap will keep the lake mostly, if not completely, frozen for at least the rest of the month. |
| Posted by:Cornsilk Blondie |
| #5 Meanwhile, OLYMPIC SKATERS are tripping oer themselves left-n-right on the rink up there in MACKENZIE LAND = Oh, CANADA. GAIA hates CANADA'S ICE MACHINES??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-02-17 19:18 |
| #4 My mother reports from the northeast side of Buffalo that there is a very light fall of tiny snowflakes at this moment. Pretty, but doesn't build up on the ground. We make no claim to a connection with Lake Erie freezing, though. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-02-17 17:20 |
| #3 even when frozen Lake Erie contributes to lake enhanced snowfall this is because the low friction flow over the lake is slowed (in the horizontal) and made turbulent when it hits the land terrain; both the slowing and the increase in turbulence cause lifting its true however that the air mass no longer gains significant moisture over a frozen lake |
| Posted by: lord garth 2010-02-17 10:54 |
| #2 I'm still getting lake effect snow from Lake Erie, so it isn't completely frozen over. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-02-17 10:08 |
| #1 When its a temperature event that involves 'cold' it's just weather. When its a temperature event that involves 'warm' its proof of |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-02-17 09:41 |