WINTER WEATHER FORECASTING THROUGHOUT THE EASTERN UNITED-STATES .4. LAKE EFFECT SNOW

This article is the final installment of a four-part series that exami nes the challenge of forecasting winter weather throughout the eastern United States. This paper examines the problems and challenges of for ecasting lake effect snows. The climatology of lake-induced snowfall i s reviewed, and an overview of the characteristics and evolution of th ese mesoscale precipitation bands is presented. The atmospheric condit ions associated with five different types of lake snow bands are discu ssed. The abilities of remote sensors to resolve, and dynamical models to simulate, these mesoscale events are also explored. Finally, sever al techniques designed to improve operational forecasts of lake effect snow are described in detail, along with representative case studies.