A snowbelt is an area, many of which lie downwind of the Great Lakes, where heavy snowfall is particularly common. Near the Great Lakes, a particular form of snowbelt is lake-effect snow, caused by cold air picking up moisture while crossing the lake and then releasing it as snow when the air cools over land. Well known snow belts exist southeast of Lake Erie from Cleveland, Ohio to Buffalo, New York and south of Lake Ontario stretching roughly from Rochester, New York, to Syracuse, New York, and northward to Watertown, New York. Similar snow belts exist on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan in Michigan, and on the eastern shores of Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Lake Erie is shallow and usually freezes over in colder winters, thus ending the lake effect snow. The Great Lakes produce lake-effect snow and continually overcast skies throughout the winter, as long as the air temperatures are colder than the water.

Regions of the United States | Weather | Geography of Canada