The Role of the Winter Land Breeze in the Formation of Great Lake Snow Storms

Radar and aircraft data are presented, in the form of case studies, for three shoreline-parallel snow bands that occurred over Lake Michigan. In all three cases a winter land breeze from one or both shores is shown to have an important role in organizing the low-level convergence and convective motions. These cases are compared with earlier studies of lake-effect snow bands on Lakes Erie and Ontario.