Duluth's Winter Weather Patters

Located on Lake Superior, Duluth experiences slightly different climate patterns than the rest of MN due to the Lake Effect.  This effect is especially prevalent during the wintertime and produces very large amounts of snow.  In fact, Lake Superior produces the greatest lake effect snows on earth.

This image shows Lake Effect Snow & the strong NW winds Duluth Experiences

A Lake Effect occurs when cold, arctic fronts travel over a warmer body of water.  The cold air picks up moisture from the lake and deposits it in the form of snow.  Believe it or not, the Lake effect also keeps the temperature milder during the winter months.  Unfortunately, since Duluth experiences strong NW winds during the wintertime, the warming effect of the lake is restricted.  This also means that much of the snow gets pushed on to Michigan’s UP and Northern Wisconsin.

You may think that Duluth dodged a bullet by so kindly gifting much of its snow to the neighbors; the city can still reach up to 170 inches of annual snow.

Between the months of December and February, Duluth is very susceptible to two types of winter snow fronts:

1.     Alberta Clippers

Alberta Clippers are also known as Canadian Clippers.  They are fast moving low-pressure fronts that tend to affect the upper parts of the Midwest and the Great Lakes Region.  They are named for their place of origin, Alberta Canada, and for clipper ships, the fastest ships of the 19^th century.

           

2.     Panhandle Hooks

These fronts are less frequent.  They develop in the SW United States between late fall early spring.  They travel NE towards the Great Lakes Region and have caused some of the most memorable and deadly blizzards in the Midwest.

Receiving at least 85 inches per year, Duluth has the highest average snowfall total of any city in Minnesota.