You’ve heard of lake-effect snow, but have you ever heard of factory-effect snow?
Conditions were just right early Thursday morning for a factory in Wisconsin to generate a band of snow showers that stretched more than 150 km downwind from the facility.
As wild as it sounds, this type of scenario isn’t as uncommon as it may seem.
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Everything lined up just right for a factory near Menominee, Wisconsin, to generate its own band of snow during the pre-dawn hours on Thursday.
Chilly temperatures that swept Canada this week also dove deep into the United States, sending overnight temperatures plunging into the minus double digits.
🤓🍽️Hungry for some science this morning?! Check out this plume of snow originiating from a factory near Menomonie! This feature has been producing snow for a few hours and extends for about 100 miles. Shoutout to our friends @NWSLaCrosse for first pointing this out! #mnwx #wiwx pic.twitter.com/xUegKEw0LX
— NWS Twin Cities (@NWSTwinCities) November 28, 2024
A low deck of clouds hanging just above the surface in western Wisconsin on Thursday morning was packed full of supercooled water droplets amid temperatures of about -10°C to -18°C, according to the U.S. National Weather Service office in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Raindrops and snowflakes both require a nucleus for water vapour to latch onto in order to begin the process of growing the droplet or ice crystal.
Enter the steam from that factory near Menominee.
Water vapour and particles within the steam rose into the cloud deck, providing the nucleus needed for supercooled water droplets to begin depositing onto those impurities and kickstart the process of snowflake growth.
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This resulted in the formation of a narrow band of snow that stretched 160 km downwind from the plant, lasting for several hours and bringing a surprise 5-10 cm of snow to communities across the region.
Folks who live around nuclear power plants or other large factories are no strangers to the idea of steam-effect snow.
When conditions are just right—much as they were on Thursday—the prolific amounts of steam generated by nuclear plants can generate heavy bands of snow in a similar fashion to lake-effect snow on the Great Lakes. Even the exhaust from airplanes has been known to cause snow showers near some busy airports.
