GEOG 3232 Blog #2

                                                          Source: http://www.minneapolis.world-guides.com/minneapolis_maps.html

1.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is affected by cP and cA air masses in the winter months and affected by mT air masses in the summer (Forest Encyclopedia). 

Source for question one:  http://forestencyclopedia.net/p/p399

Source: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/updraft/archive/daylight/

2.  Minneapolis experiences cold fronts and warm fronts which result in cold occlusions.

       Source: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/updraft/archive/2010/12/snow_abates_late_but_storm_two.shtml

                                      Source: http://cde.nwc.edu/SCI2108/course_documents/earth_moon/earth/weather/airmasses.htm

Source: http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/currentweatherusnational/uscurrentweather_large.html                                                        Source: http://www.weather.com/weather/map/USMN0503?mapdest=US_Current_Weather:NC 4.  Minneapolis along with most of the rest of the state is not located on the lee side of the Great Lakes which means Minneapolis does not commonly receive lake affect snow from lake superior or any of the Great Lakes  (MPR).  However Minnesota is the "Land of over 10,000 Lakes" and Minneapolis contains quite a large amount of lakes including a Chain of Lakes which consists of the six major lakes in the city.  These are by far not the only lakes in Minneapolis the Great Chain of Lakes are surrounded by dozens if not hundreds of small lakes which perpetuate the lake snow effect in the months the lakes aren’t frozen.                                                                        http://www.epa.gov/owow/NPS/success/state/mn_chain.htm This image shows lake effect plumes over Lake Superior as well as snow covered lakes in mid and lower Minnesota in February.  There are heavy concentrations of snow above lakes and a heavy concentration of snow on the surface in southern Minnesota.                                                                            Source:  http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/updraft/archive/lake-effect-snow/ This lake effect snow machine dissipates in the coldest months of the year when cA air masses in the months of January and February until incoming solar radiation increases in the weeks following the coldest weeks in mid-February.                                                                                    Source: http://www.wunderground.com/blog/sullivanweather/archive.html?year=2007&month=11 Sources for question four: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/updraft/archive/2009/12/lake_effect_snow_machine_kicks.shtml http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/updraft/archive/daylight/