This City Has Seen More Than 11 Feet of Snow This Winter

Think you’ve had a lot of snow? It’s probably not nearly as much as what Erie, Pennsylvania has seen this winter.

So far this season, the city in the northwest corner of the Keystone State has seen 137″ of snow, or about 11-and-a-half feet. That’s WAY more than the next closest cities. Take a look:

Updated seasonal snowfall totals at Eastern US NWS climate stations. pic.twitter.com/Us7w1lE4ez

— NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) January 14, 2018

Of course, the majority of that snow came in an epic end of December three-day span that saw the city rack up over five feet of snow. Another part of it has been an unusually cold winter so far for the Northeast, which has helped bring in the cold winds that go over the relatively warm lake waters, a differential that leads to lake effect snow. Erie receives the overwhelming majority of its snow through the lake effect process, and gets about 100 inches of snow each winter.

But, the lake effect snow machine may be shutting off, at least for the city of Erie in particular. Lake Erie, the lake that ‘feeds’ Erie its snow, is at about 80 percent ice coverage, as of Monday. The ice coverage should help wind down the huge lake effect snow totals.

In the meantime, cold and light snow remain in the forecast for the America’s snowiest major city, at least so far this winter season.

Keep tracking Erie’s snowfall this winter with WeatherNation.

For WeatherNation: Meteorologist Chris Bianchi