‘Boring’ Doppler Radar image instead shows off hidden snow oddities across Northeast

ALBANY, N.Y. — The weather headlines have been filled recently with the massive lake-effect snowstorms that buried the Great Lakes area in feet of snow, and then just in the last day, the first measurable snow of the year for much of the I-95 corridor.

But while skies were clearing Saturday morning and the region appeared to head toward calmer weather for the weekend, Mother Nature had a few hidden tricks up her sleeve.

Doppler Radar image on Dec. 21, 2024

(FOX Weather)

“At first glance, it seems like a pretty boring radar picture across the Northeast (Saturday) morning,” said FOX Weather Senior Meteorologist Greg Diamond. “But look closer and there are actually a few really cool things happening!”

He first illustrated a thin, but intense band of snow falling just to the east of Cleveland.  This was the infamous lake-effect snow in action.

Radar loop showing lake effect snows in eastern Ohio on Dec. 21, 2024. 

(FOX Weather)

Or should we say “lakes-effect” snow?

“This is due to extra moisture being drawn from not only Lake Erie, but Lake Huron too,” Diamond said.

Another arctic air mass was sweeping out of Canada, over the Great Lakes and into the Northeast on Saturday. As that cold air passes over the relatively warm lakes, warmth and moisture from the water are picked up and transferred into the lowest portion of the Earth’s atmosphere.

WHAT MAKES LAKE EFFECT SNOW?

This rising air condenses into clouds, which can grow into narrow bands that are capable of producing snowfall rates on the order of 2 to 3 inches per hour or more, according to the National Weather Service.

But it wasn’t just “Great” Lake-effect snow falling Saturday. Lake-effect snow was also occurring downwind of the Finger Lakes in central New York, bringing lingering snow to Ithaca and Binghamton, spreading into northeastern Pennsylvania.

Radar loop showing lake effect snows from New York’s Finger Lakes on Dec. 21, 2024.

(FOX Weather)

And the process also brought snow in the Burlington, Vermont area with arctic winds coming off Lake Champlain.

Radar loop showing lake effect snows along Vermont’s Lake Champlain on Dec. 21, 2024. 

(FOX Weather)

But it wasn’t all lake-generated snow. Albany, New York was getting snow from a process Diamond described as the “Mohawk-Hudson Convergence.”

Radar Loop showing “Mohawk-Hudson” Convergence on Dec. 21, 2024.

(FOX Weather)

“This is when winds are channeled east along the Mohawk Valley and south through the Hudson Valley,” Diamond said. “They combine near Albany, and lift caused by their collision leads to the development of snow.”

Snow will eventually fade across the Northeast as the drier arctic air mass takes over the region with the coldest temperatures so far this season.