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Abstract Potential factors affecting the inland penetration and orographic modulation of lake-effect precipitation east of Lake Ontario include the environmental (lake, land, and atmospheric) conditions, mode of the lake-effect system, and orographic processes associated with flow across the downstream Tug Hill Plateau (herein Tug Hill), Black River valley, and Adirondack Mountains (herein Adirondacks). In this study we use data from the KTYX WSR-88D, ERA5 reanalysis, New York State Mesonet, and Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems (OWLeS) field campaign to examine how these factors influence lake-effect characteristics with emphasis on the region downstream of Tug Hill. During an eight-cool-season (16 November–15 April) study period (2012/13–2019/20), total radar-estimated precipitation during lake-effect periods increased gradually from Lake Ontario to upper Tug Hill and decreased abruptly where the Tug Hill escarpment drops into the Black River valley. The axis of maximum precipitation shifted poleward across the northern Black River valley and into the northwestern Adirondacks. In the western Adirondacks, the heaviest lake-effect snowfall periods featured strong, near-zonal boundary layer flow, a deep boundary layer, and a single precipitation band aligned along the long-lake axis. Airborne profiling radar observations collected during OWLeS IOP10 revealed precipitation enhancement over Tug Hill, spillover and shadowing in the Black River valley where a resonant lee wave was present, and precipitation invigoration over the western Adirondacks. These results illustrate the orographic modulation of inland-penetrating lake-effect systems downstream of Lake Ontario and the factors favoring heavy snowfall over the western Adirondacks. Significance StatementInland penetrating lake-effect storms east of Lake Ontario affect remote rural communities, enable a regional winter-sports economy, and contribute to a snowpack that contributes to runoff and flooding during thaws and rain-on-snow events. In this study we illustrate how the region’s three major geographic features—Tug Hill, the Black River valley, and the western Adirondacks—affect the characteristics of lake-effect precipitation, describe the factors contributing to heavy snowfall over the western Adirondacks, and provide an examples of terrain effects in a lake-effect storm observed with a specially instrumented research aircraft. 

Abstract The distribution and intensity of lake- and sea-effect (hereafter lake-effect) precipitation are strongly influenced by the mode of landfalling lake-effect systems. Here, we used idealized large-eddy simulations to investigate the downstream evolution and coastal-to-inland transition of two lake-effect modes: 1) a long-lake-axis-parallel (LLAP) band generated by an oval body of water (hereafter lake; e.g., Lake Ontario) and 2) broad-coverage, open-cell convection generated by an open lake (e.g., Sea of Japan). Under identical atmospheric conditions and lake-surface temperatures, the oval lake generates a LLAP band with heavy precipitation along the midlake axis, whereas the open lake generates broad-coverage, open-cell convection with widespread, light accumulations. Over the oval lake, the LLAP band features a thermally forced and diabatically enhanced cross-band secondary circulation with convergence and ascent over the midlake axis. Downstream of the lake, flanking airstreams that avoid lake modification merge beneath the band where they experience sublimational cooling, producing a cold pool. At the upstream edge of the cold pool, a coastal baroclinic zone forms. Above this zone, ascent and hydrometeor mass growth are maximized, resulting in an inland precipitation maximum due to subsequent hydrometeor transport and fallout. Over the open lake, individual open cells grow larger and stronger with overwater extent, but a convective-to-stratiform transition begins at the coast. Here, convective vigor decays, mesoscale ascent begins, and enhanced hydrometeor growth results in an inland precipitation maximum. These results highlight variations in the coastal-to-inland transition of lake-effect systems that ultimately influence the distribution and intensity of lake-effect precipitation. 

Landfalling lake- and sea-effect (hereafter lake-effect) systems often interact with orography, altering the distribution and intensity of precipitation, which frequently falls as snow. In this study, we examine the influence of orography on two modes of lake-effect systems: long-lake-axis-parallel (LLAP) bands and broad-coverage, open-cell convection. Specifically, we generate idealized large-eddy simulations of a LLAP band produced by an oval lake and broad-coverage, open-cell convection produced by an open lake (i.e., without flanking shorelines) with a downstream coastal plain, 500-m peak, and 2000-m ridge. Without terrain, the LLAP band intersects a coastal baroclinic zone over which ascent and hydrometeor mass growth are maximized, with transport and fallout producing an inland precipitation maximum. The 500-m peak does not significantly alter this structure, but slightly enhances precipitation due to orographic ascent, increased hydrometeor mass growth, and reduced subcloud sublimation. In contrast, a 2000-m ridge disrupts the band by blocking the continental flow that flanks the coastlines. This, combined with differential surface heating between the lake and land, leads to low-level flow reversal, shifting the coastal baroclinic zone and precipitation maximum offshore. In contrast, the flow moves over the terrain in open lake, open-cell simulations. Over the 500-m peak, this yields an increase in the frequency of weaker (<1 m s−1) updrafts and weak precipitation enhancement, although stronger updrafts decline. Over the 2000-m ridge, however, buoyancy and convective vigor increase dramatically, contributing to an eightfold increase in precipitation. Overall, these results highlight differences in the influence of orography on two common lake-effect modes. 

The Sea of Japan (SOJ) coast and adjoining orography of central Honshu, Japan, receive substantial snowfall each winter. A frequent contributor during cold-air outbreaks (CAOs) is the Japan Sea polar airmass convergence zone (JPCZ), which forms downstream of the highland areas of the Korean Peninsula (i.e., the Korean Highlands), extends southeastward to Honshu, and generates a mesoscale band of precipitation. Mesoscale polar vortices (MPVs) ranging in horizontal scale from tens (i.e., meso-β-scale cyclones) to several hundreds of kilometers (i.e., “polar lows”) are also common during CAOs and often interact with the JPCZ. Here we use satellite imagery and Weather Research and Forecasting Model simulations to examine the formation, thermodynamic structure, and airflow of a JPCZ that formed in the wake of an MPV during a CAO from 2 to 7 February 2018. The MPV and its associated warm seclusion and bent-back front developed in a locally warm, convergent, and convective environment over the SOJ near the base of the Korean Peninsula. The nascent JPCZ was structurally continuous with the bent-back front and lengthened as the MPV migrated southeastward. Trajectories illustrate how air–sea interactions and flow splitting around the Korean Highlands and channeling through low passes and valleys along the Asian coast affect the formation and thermodynamic structure of the JPCZ. Contrasts in airmass origin and thermodynamic modification over the SOJ affect the cross-JPCZ temperature gradient, which reverses in sign along the JPCZ from the Asian coast to Honshu. These results provide new insights into the thermodynamic structure of the JPCZ, which is an important contributor to hazardous weather over Japan. 

A cold-frontal passage through northern Utah was studied using observations collected during intensive observing period 4 of the Intermountain Precipitation Experiment (IPEX) on 14–15 February 2000. To illustrate some of its nonclassic characteristics, its origins are considered. The front developed following the landfall of two surface features on the Pacific coast (hereafter, the cold-frontal system). The first feature was a surface pressure trough and wind shift associated with a band of precipitation and rope cloud with little, if any, surface baroclinicity. The second, which made landfall 4 h later, was a wind shift associated with weaker precipitation that possessed a weak temperature drop at landfall (1˚C in 9 h), but developed a stronger temperature drop as it moved inland over central California (4˚–6˚C in 9 h). As the first feature moved into the Great Basin, surface temperatures ahead of the trough increased due to downslope flow and daytime heating, whereas temperatures behind the trough decreased as precipitation cooled the near-surface air. Coupled with confluence in the lee of the Sierra Nevada, this trough developed into the principal baroclinic zone of the cold-frontal system (8˚C in less than an hour), whereas the temperature drop with the second feature weakened further. The motion of the surface pressure trough was faster than the post-trough surface winds and was tied to the motion of the short-wave trough aloft. This case, along with previously published cases in the Intermountain West, challenges the traditional conceptual model of cold-frontal terminology, structure, and evolution.