If you are thinking about lake effect, you probably pictured the winter season in Western New York.  But did you know that lake effect can also happen during the summer season?  Obviously this can happen, but to a much lesser extent.

It comes down to the lake breeze and if there is no large scale weather system around, this breeze is driven by differences in the local temperature. The primary meteorological principle is that it takes much more energy to heat the water of Lake Ontario as opposed to the surface of the land. Knowing this, as the land surface is heated during the daytime hours the temperature may reach into the 80s or even 90 degrees. This heated air becomes lighter and less dense. Consequently, the air begins to rise like a hot air balloon. As the warm air rises, something has to replace it.  Remember, the air over Lake Ontario is cooler and more dense. This heavier air “oozes” south and replaces the warmer air. This is what creates the northerly lake breeze during the daytime hours.

The flip side of this concept is the land breeze which changes wind direction during the nighttime hours. This time of the year, as night settles in across Western News York, the land cools much faster than the air over the lake. Subsequently, the air over the land now becomes heavier and more dense and then moves toward Lake Ontario under a southerly wind.  This day to night or diurnal cycle happens quite often when you live near a great lake.

No matter what the wind direction happens to be, I think we all prefer a little lake or land breeze during the summer season.