Texas winter weather: What is lake effect snow?

When you think of lake effect snow, the Great Lakes come to mind. However, we can see it on a smaller scale here in Central Texas.

It happened this morning at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Walter E. Long Lake is just north of the airport.

With the cold wind blowing over the relatively warmer lake, it puts more moisture and rising motion in the lower levels of the atmosphere downstream of the lakes.

Snow seen at ABIA (Mike Honcho)

MORE WINTER WEATHER COVERAGE

Only a small area gets a little bit more snow and the totals stay low. This happened in the winter of 2021. 

The strong northwesterly wind blowing over Lake Travis produced light snow over downtown Austin.

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