‘Wild’ weather phenomenon over Lake Michigan that was created by more than a dozen whirlwinds baffles meteorologists

Meteorologists have captured a “wild” weather phenomenon over Lake Michigan after a recent storm buried the region under three feet of snow.

More than a dozen cold Canadian vortices, technically known as mesovortices, spun their way south, creating a band of snow that curled across the water’s surface.

Radar shows the twisters swirling over Lake Michigan, dumping an avalanche of “lake effect” snow on parts of the northern border of the United States.

Lake effect snow forms when cold air flows over unfrozen and relatively warm water, transferring heat and moisture to the lowest part of the atmosphere.

The air rises, clouds form and grow into a narrow band that produces two to five centimeters of snow per hour or more – and this rare event dumped 35 centimeters of snow in some regions.

Snow and ice cover Michigan’s St. Joseph Lighthouses as waves crash along the Lake Michigan ice shelf formed along Tiscornia Beach

“I’ve never seen such a great example of mesoscale eddies in Lake Michigan as this one here. “WILD!!,” a local weatherman gushed on social media.

Only a few square miles near the Great Lakes were affected by the snowstorm, but the near-white impact of that Arctic blast flooded roads and paralyzed traffic.

The contrast was stark: Michigan City, Indiana, for example, was submerged in 35 inches (or nearly a meter) of “sea smoke” snow, while the city of South Bend, just half an hour west, recorded only 6 inches.

A crucial factor in last Friday’s sudden, purposeful micro snowstorm was the lake effect snow.

“Lake effect snow is common in the Great Lakes region during late fall and winter,” one person said National Weather Service (NWS) source on the phenomenon.

Meteorologists have captured a “wild” weather phenomenon over Lake Michigan after a recent storm buried the region under three feet of snow

Only a few square miles near the Great Lakes were hit by the snowstorm, but the near-white impact of that Arctic explosion flooded roads and paralyzed traffic

The NNWS reported that this “intense lake effect snow band” hit last Friday at a snow rate of two to four inches per hour, creating a new record snowfall (21.9 inches) for La Porte County, Indiana.

‘Parts of I-94 near Michigan City,’ NWS observers also reported‘Traffic was at a standstill for hours due to numerous collisions and slides.’

But this historic and strangely purposeful winter setback — the largest since weather stations in that region began keeping records in 1948 — was just one feature of Friday’s weather event that captivated and confused meteorologists.

Researchers were amazed by the unusual radar images of the storm: a continuous, long and braided chain of “mesovortices,” a term for significant but medium-sized weather events that are smaller than the “synoptic-scale” events normally seen on a standard weather map. be seen. .

“It’s unbelievable what you can see on the radar,” says WISH-TV meteorologist Ryan Morse posted on X.

“Lake effect mesovortices are always fascinating,” says Weather Channel meteorologist Stu Ostro added, “but I can’t remember another sequence as amazing as this one.”

Atmospheric scientist Frank Marsik, who teaches at the University of Michigan’s Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering (CLASP), hoped that trainee meteorologists will study this unusual series of mesoscale storms.

“I foresee a good term project in the future for any student interested in exploring last Friday’s (1/19) mesovortices over Lake Michigan,” Marsik said.

Purdue University meteorologist Robin Tanamachi told the Washington Post that, in her preliminary assessment, the strange snow showers were caused by “converging winds (that) were also angled and acted like two hands rubbing a rope of dough.”

Meteorologist Robin Tanamachi of Purdue University told the newspaper WashingtonPost that, in her preliminary assessment, the strange snow showers were caused by “converging winds (which) were also at an angle and behaved like two hands rubbing a rope of dough.”

The odd angles, she said, effectively created a series of small whirlwinds.

“Imagine bringing your hands together around a blob of dough and then moving them in opposite directions,” Tanamachi explained.

‘You’ll end up with a vertically oriented dough ‘rope’ that spins between your hands. The converging winds did something similar along the entire length of the snow band, creating the meso-vortices.”

Atmospheric scientist Frank Marsik, who teaches at the University of Michigan’s Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering (CLASP), hoped that trainee meteorologists will study this unusual series of mesoscale storms

While this mesoscale sequence of showers was reportedly unusual for Lake Michigan, a few regions closer to the equator experience this weather pattern more frequently.

Guadalupe Island off the Pacific coast of Baja California, the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa all commonly experience what is known as von Karmen vortex separation.

Named after a co-founder of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Theodore von Kármán, the chain-alternating mesovortices typically form when a prevailing wind is obstructed by an approaching landmass, such as an island, mountain peak or volcano.

Friday’s pattern across Lake Michigan managed to create a nearly identical weather event simply with two opposing wind forces.