Snowy Around The Lakes; More About Fronts

Well if you want winter, head to the Great Lakes!

A strong northwest flow is creating pockets of heavy lake effect snow today along the southern and eastern shores of all 5 lakes.

Some places, especially in the upper peninsula of Michigan, could see 6-12 inches of the white stuff.

Meanwhile here in the west we are having round 2 of Indian Summer, with Denver expecting upper 60s to mid 70s over the next couple of days.

Ok on Friday we talked about the stationary cold front.

The type of weather one would see along this type of front actually depends on the type of air mass on either side.

Sometimes the weather along a stationary cold front is clear to partly cloudy and dry, with much colder air behind it.

This happens when the air mass on either side of the front is dry.

Other times, warm moist air may ride up and over the cold dry air, bringing widespread clouds and precip to a large area.

An example of this: say you drive from Chicago to Milwaukee in clouds, drizzle and fog and experience a temperature of 45 in Milwaukee and 71 in Chicago.

Once either of the two air masses begin to move, the stationary front will get erased off the weather map and either a cold or warm front will be drawn.

It just depends on which air mass wins out.