New York, 2020

Lake-Effect Snow in New York, December 26, 2020

December 26, 2020 · NWS BTV · 1 event in 1 county or zone

After a wet, windy Christmas storm exited the region, colder west-southwest winds moving across the long fetch of Lake Ontario led to a significant lake effect snow band that waffled south to north then back south. The band reached southeast St.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS BTV wrote it up.

After a wet, windy Christmas storm exited the region, colder west-southwest winds moving across the long fetch of Lake Ontario led to a significant lake effect snow band that waffled south to north then back south. The band reached southeast St. Lawrence county during the morning hours of December 26th and deposited localized 12 to 18 inches of snow in Fowler, Fine, Star Lake areas of Route 3 south.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Burlington, VT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 25, 6:16 PM EST, 11 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 25, 6:16 PM EST, 11 hours 44 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 25, 4:50 PM EST, 13 hours 10 minutes before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lake-effect snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Lake-Effect Snow, Southeastern St. Lawrence

When
December 26, 6:00 AM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where
Southeastern St. Lawrence forecast zone
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
44.501, -75.116 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snowfall reports in southeast St. Lawrence county ranged from 3 to 18 inches with the heaviest along and south of Route 3, including 17 inches n Star Lake and 10 inches in Fine.

What these are

Lake-Effect Snow
Heavy snow in bands downwind of a large lake as cold air crosses warmer water.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New York in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, December 2020

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 926244.