A Comparison of Microphysical Properties in Lake-Effect and Synoptic Snowfall near Buffalo, New York

To improve forecasting of snow events, it is imperative to understand how the snowfall event type, mesoscale versus synoptic, dictates what an observer sees at the ground level. One location that endures extreme snowfall is Buffalo, NY, which is located along the long axis of Lake Erie, and can experience large lake-effect snow and synoptic snow accumulations. The University of Illinois System for Characterizing and Measuring Precipitation (SCAMP) is a suite of deployable ground-based instruments consisting of a profiling Micro Rain Radar2, a Parsivel² laser disdrometer, a precipitation weighing gauge, and a weather sensor. This instrument suite measures various characteristics of precipitation such as precipitation amounts, radar reflectivities and Doppler velocities, and hydrometeor particle size distributions, supplemented by environmental conditions. SCAMP was deployed east of Buffalo, NY, for two full winter seasons, allowing for sampling of both synoptic and mesoscale snow events. Using three events from the SCAMP dataset (two lake-effect events on 18-20 November 2022, and 23-25 December 2022, and a synoptic event observed on 17-18 January 2022), the observed snowfall parameters will be examined to help gain an understanding as to how the event type might impact surface snowfall characteristics.