Publication Date

1970

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Cole, Alan L.||Villmow, Jack

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Geography

LCSH

Snow

Abstract

During the last few years much attention has been given to Great Lakes Climatology. Among the many parameters being studied is snowfall. It has been illustrated by several authors that excessive amounts of snowfall occur along the shorelines of the Great Lakes, especially along the lee shore of the lakes. These excessive amounts of snowfall along the shores of the lakes have been explained to be an overt manifestation of lake-effect snow showers. The region within 150 miles of Lake Michigan was chosen as the study region, with October 1959 to March 1969 chosen as the study period. This study analyzes lake-effect snowfall in two phases. In phase I, lake-effect snowfall is studied indirectly by analyzing the spatial variation of snowfall within the vicinity of Lake Michigan. Average monthly and annual snowfall amounts are determined for the study region and the patterns analyzed. In phase II lake-effect snowfall is studied directly by isolating all snowfall periods in which only lake-effect snowfall occurred. Several standard quantitative techniques are utilized to analyze these lake-effect snowfall periods. The results of these analyses indicate that a predictive equation for the magnitude of lake-effect snowfall can be developed using the two independent variables, visibility and relative humidity. These predictive equations for the phenomenon are developed for the three types of lake-effect snowfall (heavy, moderate and light).

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.||Includes illustrations and maps.

Extent

x, 107 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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