The Lake-Induced Convection Experiment and the Snowband Dynamics Project

In 1999, a blizzard associated with an intense cyclone disabled Chicago and much of the U.S. Midwest with 30-90 cm of snow. Such winter weather conditions have many impacts on the lives and property of people throughout much of North America.

Each of these events is the culmination of a complex interaction between synoptic-scale, mesoscale, and microscale processes.', An understanding of how the multiple size scales and timescales interact is critical to improving forecasting of these severe winter weather events. The Lake-Induced Convection Experiment (Lake-ICE) and the Snowband Dynamics Project (SNOWBAND) collected comprehensive datasets on processes involved in lake-effect snowstorms and snowbands associated with cyclones during the winter of 1997/98.