Mesoscale Lows Deliver Thundersnow to Central New York! (credit: NWS Buffalo, New York)

DISCUSSION: As we look back at Friday afternoon/evening across portions of Central New York, there was quite an impressive winter weather event which unfolded.  More specifically, as fairly cold air moved across the long axis of Lake Ontario there was significant low-level instability in place due to the relatively warmer lake surface temperatures in place across Lake Ontario right now.  As these weak pulses of energy moved across the long axis of Lake Ontario during the late afternoon to early evening hours, they picked up the surface-based energy from Lake Ontario and generated substantial lake-effect/lake-enhanced snowfall.  As these mesoscale low pressure systems moved ashore, there were also local reports of thundersnow across cities including (but not limited to) Oswego, New York per the reports and videos taken by students on the campus of SUNY Oswego.  Certainly was a neat event to watch unfold in real-time and now to analyze on the GOES-16 animated visible satellite imagery attached above!  Attached below is a text excerpt from forecasters at the National Weather Service office located in Buffalo, New York!

"GOES-16 satellite data is now flowing into our office as part of the testing phase. We got to view this rapid update 1-minute visible imagery today, showing 3 meso-lows developing over eastern Lake Ontario and tracking on shore across Jefferson and Oswego counties. Can you pick out all 3? (Best viewed in high-definition)"

To learn more about other high-impact winter weather events occurring around the world, be sure to click here!

©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz

#winterweather #snow #LakeOntario