Lake-effect snow
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Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises through colder air. The vapor then freezes and is deposited on the leeward (downwind) shores.
A cold northwesterly to westerly wind over all the Great Lakes created the lake-effect snowfall of January 10, 2022.
Buffalo, New York, after 82.3 inches (209 cm) of snow fell from December 24, 2001, to December 28, 2001
Fulton, New York, after a snowburst dropped 4–6 feet (122–183 cm) of snow over most of Oswego County January 28–31, 2004
The Veteran's Day storm of November 9–14, 1996, may be the most severe early-season lake-effect snow storm the Great Lakes has witnessed in the past 50 years. At the height of the storm, over 160,000 customers were without power in Greater Cleveland alone, as the storm produced isolated snowfall tallies approaching 70 inches (178 cm).
Snowbelt
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The Snowbelt, Snow Belt, Frostbelt, or Frost Belt is the region near the Great Lakes in North America where heavy snowfall in the form of lake-effect snow is particularly common. Snowbelts are typically found downwind of the lakes, principally off the eastern and southern shores.
Lake-effect snow is the cause of the regional nickname
Northeast Ohio Primary and Secondary Snow Belts