buckeyemike Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Did you know that Buffalo is the Solar Capital of the NE or several months of the year? Buffalo gets more sunshine than any other City in the NE US for several months out of the year and actually even gets more sunshine than most cities in the so-called Sunbelt for part of the year. This is true fact for a couple of reasons: 1. Alasks is called the Land of the Midnight Sun on the summer solstice of June 21st because the Earth is tilted on its axis such that in the winter the northern climes of the US get more sun and have longer days than southern locations. Buffalo is actually one of the furthest north locations in the US that also qualifies a city so thus we get more sunlight on June 21st than Sunbelt locations in Florida, the Carolinas or other places. 2. In addition to getting more raw sunlight, the same climatological factors which cause huge Lake Effect snowfalls reverses in warmer weather and actually breals up cloud cover around the Lakes. Specifically, there is a temperature differential between the water of the Great Lakes and the land. In the winter the Lakes get no colder than about 32 degrees as the water freezes but the land gets much colder. Air picks up moisture from the lakes, blows over the much colder land and drops this mosture as snow. In the summer, the land can actually get warmer than the water which moves and chops around as waves. Though this effect is way too small to impact large air masses and cloud cover like those making up Tropical Depression Katrina or clouds from the west, as clouds are formed by mositure from the Great Lakes they tend to break up once they get over the warmer land. Not only does Buffalo get more sunshine than many sunbelt cities approaching and moving away from the solstice but more of this gets through to the ground. If you refuse to believe me then take the word or observe these actions by non-Buffalo residents. Buffalo enviros and solar activists were able to convince the colleges which hold an international solar power watercraft contest called SolarSplash to come to Buffalo and hold their event with the help of the US Weather Service which monitors these types of things that in fact Buffalo did get more sunshine on June 21st than Sunbelt locations like Orlando, FL, and New Orleans, Dont believe me but believe the measurable numbers collected by the US Weather Service. The second point is that not only was SolarSplash brought to Buffalo > http://www.solarsplash.com/ < but they came back an unprecedented 5 straight years because of the great sun location, the super volunteer team which helped them hold it here and the hospitality of local folks. The numbers vary from year to year with the cloud cover, but for several months out of the year, Buffalo is a very sunny place to be and actually given how intolerably hot many of these places are and lil things like Hurricanes, Buffalo simply has some the best weather conditions in the country. If one wondered why folks put up with the blizzards here which are bad, its because 2 months of weather terror, and 4-5 months of it being too gray here are really balanced by having a high temperature that maxes out in the 70s and a low that does not go below 50 for the other 7 months of the year. 424596[/snapback] Lake Erie operates as a heat sink and as a natural air-conditioning unit. This time of year, it's your friend. In January, it's your enemy. I know...I live on the same lake. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacka Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 a major fault line in the ground. As opposed to? The Niagara gorge is part of that fault. 424427[/snapback] No it isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 I'd like to experience one more blizzard before I leave WNY next year unlike others who complain about the weather here all the time, I love snow 424034[/snapback] Same here. Nothing like the sun going down at 4 and 2 foot dumping of snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Lake Erie operates as a heat sink and as a natural air-conditioning unit. This time of year, it's your friend. In January, it's your enemy. I know...I live on the same lake. Mike 424705[/snapback] Actually, in January it becomes your friend again IFF the eastern basin freezes over. Believe it or not you want a hard and early freeze to stop the lake effect machine. On another note... Didn't the lake freeze early in 1977 and the snow sitting on the ice get blown around? Chalk that up to freak occurance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rastabillz Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Yes, that is actually what happend during the blizzard of '77. The winter of '76-77 was one of the coldest on record with numerous snow storms. Lake Erie froze much earlier than normal with snow piling up on the eastern end of the lake on the ice shelf. Then along came the infameous blizzard which blewt he snow piled up on the lake into WNY. I believe there was already almost 3 feet of snow on the ground prior to the onset of the blizzard. Watertown on the eastern end of Lake Ontario which was not frozen had something like 75 inches of lake effect snow during the blizzard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Yes, that is actually what happend during the blizzard of '77. The winter of '76-77 was one of the coldest on record with numerous snow storms. Lake Erie froze much earlier than normal with snow piling up on the eastern end of the lake on the ice shelf. Then along came the infameous blizzard which blewt he snow piled up on the lake into WNY. I believe there was already almost 3 feet of snow on the ground prior to the onset of the blizzard. Watertown on the eastern end of Lake Ontario which was not frozen had something like 75 inches of lake effect snow during the blizzard. 424733[/snapback] The blizzard actually dumped not that much snow... Wasn't it about 10-15 inches?... It was the wind and drifting that did us in. The amount of wind determines if it is a blizzard or not... You can probably have a minimal amout of snow. Couple that with a lot of rear-wheel driven tanks they called cars back then, the receipe for disaster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rastabillz Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Your right. I belive offically 12 inches was credit as falling during the storm but is was blowing so hard that it was impossible to accurately measure snow (winds frequntly gusted over 50 mph and I believe the peak gust was over 70 mph!). The offical National Weather Service criteria for blizzard is: A violent snowstorm with winds blowing at a minimum speed of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour and visibility of less than one-quarter mile (400 meters) for three hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotStuckonStupid Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 lake effect rain. it is the same as snow but in reverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBuffaloDisease Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 I told my wife this same thing, i.e. people talk about the snow in the North, Northeast in particular. However I'd MUCH rather face a blizzard than a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, mudslides, fires, and floods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRT88 Posted August 31, 2005 Author Share Posted August 31, 2005 It is easy to knock folks for where they live at a time like this. Did you know Buffalo is located right by a major fault line in the ground. A catastrophic eathquake could flatten the region at any time. Are folks dumb for living in western ny? I hate the arguement some people try and make that "it was only a matter of time" and "why are they living there". 423848[/snapback] Is it an active fault or an ancient fault? Since most of NA is located in the center of the North American tectonic plate, major earthquakes are extremely rare. Charleston, SC sufered a major one in the 1860, and the Memphis area (New Madrid fault zone), had three massive quakes with two months during 1812. Beyond those two I am unfamilar with any other major earthquakes east of Mississippi in the past two centuries. Therefore, I would say the risk is extremely minimal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 Therefore, I would say the risk is extremely minimal. 424817[/snapback] No, I would say as each year passes the risk gets increasingly greater. We are now 193 years into the next slip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjeff215 Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 No, I would say as each year passes the risk gets increasingly greater. We are now 193 years into the next slip. 425088[/snapback] Yeah, the longer you go between releases, the bigger the boom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jukester Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 Buffalo is actually one of the furthest north locations in the US that also qualifies a city so thus we get more sunlight on June 21st than Sunbelt locations in Florida, the Carolinas or other places. 424596[/snapback] Not if it's a cloudy day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightRider Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 It is easy to knock folks for where they live at a time like this. Did you know Buffalo is located right by a major fault line in the ground. A catastrophic eathquake could flatten the region at any time. Are folks dumb for living in western ny? I hate the arguement some people try and make that "it was only a matter of time" and "why are they living there". 423848[/snapback] So you are saying that it is not safer to live in WNY, where catastrophic earthquakes happen every few thousand years, when comparing to the Gulf coast where the south tip of FL and LA get slammed every 15 years or so? KRT, that 1812 set of quakes was pretty huge, if I remember my history. There was damage from Boston to New Orleans... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 KRT, that 1812 set of quakes was pretty huge, if I remember my history. There was damage from Boston to New Orleans... 425108[/snapback] It was so, so sparse population wise back then who knows what it would be like today? Wasn't 1816 the "Year Without A Summer" also. With huge Volcanic eruptions in the far east the previous years... Near Rochester, NY snow fell in every month that year. Ponds in NE froze and crops failed. 1816 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightRider Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 It was so, so sparse population wise back then who knows what it would be like today? Wasn't 1816 the "Year Without A Summer" also. With huge Volcanic eruptions in the far east the previous years... Near Rochester, NY snow fell in every month that year. Ponds in NE froze and crops failed. 1816 425119[/snapback] Interesting link! I didn't know about it. The earthquake, and the weakened volcanos caused all that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasper13 Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 I'd much rather shovel a few inches or a couple of feet of snow a few times a month in the winter than shovel my house into a dumpster after losing everything I owned- provided I lived through the hurricane to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 Actually, in January it becomes your friend again IFF the eastern basin freezes over. Believe it or not you want a hard and early freeze to stop the lake effect machine. On another note... Didn't the lake freeze early in 1977 and the snow sitting on the ice get blown around? Chalk that up to freak occurance? 424724[/snapback] I stand corrected. If the lake DOESN'T freeze over, as it has not in all but one of the past several years (in this area), then it's still your enemy. Yes, the lake froze early...in 1976-77, Lake Erie froze over shoreline to shoreline for the first time in recorded history. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdelma Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 I'd like to experience one more blizzard before I leave WNY next year unlike others who complain about the weather here all the time, I love snow 424034[/snapback] I did in 1999 and left after throwing snow off my roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric in Akron Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 As far as the fault line that runs thru Niagara County and thus exposing a threat for a earthquake in the region, remember that every inch of dirt on this planet is at risk of an earthquake. Just that some areas have more activity than others. I always tell people that the weather in Buffalo is much better than what people believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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