Where we live off the eastern end of Lake Ontario in New York State is in an area referred to as the Snowbelt.
The snowbelt is an area that gets large amounts of lake effect snow which is caused by cold air moving over a large body of warm water that takes up moisture, and then when that moisture-filled air moves over the land and cools it produces large amounts of heavy snows.
The Tug Hill Plateau in New York State, which we are west of, receives the most snow in a non-mountainous area in the continental United States. Our average snowfall is over 200". We don't get all 200" at one time. It's an accumulated total for the season.
In winters where we have had significant snowfall, several people have to not only shovel or plow their driveways and walkways, but they also have to shovel their rooftops on their houses and barns. In the past several years people have had their roofs cave in from the heavy snow. And if we get rain that freezes on top of the snow it makes it a lot heavier.
Here are some links for more information on our documented snow accumulations.
Wikipedia definition and map of Snowbelt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowbelt
Wikipedia information on Lake Effect Snow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake-effect_snow
This is an article that was in the New York Times February 12, 2007: 8 Days, 10 Feet of Snow
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I though I'd share with you some of our recent winter photos.
Hope you enjoy them!
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| Mexico, NY |
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| Sandy Creek, NY |
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| Pulaski, NY |
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| Pulaski, NY |
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| Pulaski, NY |
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| Salmon River, Pulaski, NY |
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Our yard
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| Mexico High School, Mexico, NY |
The Mexico High School's Dollars for Scholars Program sponsors a fund raising activity that consists of community members sponsoring Memory Lights that are displayed in the high school windows during the month of December. The donations raised goes towards scholarships for graduating seniors. Memory Lights can be dedicated to honor family members, students, teachers of the Mexico School District, or in honor of lives lost.
The Holly. . .
And The Ivy
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| St. James Episcopal Church, Pulaski, NY |
I created this little video/slideshow (below) in 2009 and thought you might enjoy it. It's a compilation of several winter pictures over a period of a few years and all taken in New York State. Hope you enjoy your visit to our "Winter Wonderland" in this video titled "A New York White Winter".
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| Mirror Lake- Lake Placid, NY |
Peace On Earth -
And Heaven and Nature Sing
It is breath taking and a beautiful winter wonderland. Thank you for such a wonderful treat. We are here with 73 degree weather the past few days. It is really crazy and certainly does not seem like winter here. Enjoy your holiday and keep up the great blog. We look forward to it in 2014. Linda and Mark
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda and Mark. We're glad we took the pictures when we did because it started raining Friday and melting our snow. Luckily we only got a little of the freezing rain here overnight. Not sure how much longer the snow will last, but actually I'm sure we'll have more to report because it's only the second day of winter. You have a great holiday too!
DeleteWonderful, wonderful images. I feel so full of holiday spirit. I wish you and yours the merriest. Not being from here originally, the lake effect was all new to me, as is the Tug Hill Plateau in New York State. I would love to visit there someday with all that snow.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I really appreciate that, and the same to you! These pictures were taken earlier in the week except the last picture and that was taken in Nov. The rain washed quite a bit of it away since yesterday though. But unless it's a mild winter I'm sure we'll have plenty more snow. I hope someday you have the chance to visit here. You would love it.
DeleteLovely snowy scenes but I'd rather look at your photos of it than have it outside the window even though it is very festive.
ReplyDeleteChloris
Thank you Chloris! The last few days were above freezing, but today we're back down to below freezing. The landscape changes everyday in the winter and we got a little snow overnight. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteSusan I used to work in Mexico and traveled throughout Oswego County. Currently I live just off the S shore of Oneida Lake. We get the Lake effect when it blows off the SE end of the lake. You certainly have gotten hit with lots of snow this late fall already!
ReplyDeleteYes, Donna, we have gotten quite a bit of snow this past month. Luckily we didn't get the ice problems they got farther north this past weekend. We got quite a bit of rain which washed away most of our snow, but our temperatures stayed above freezing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting.