At a Glance

Heavy lake-effect snow will pound parts of the Great Lakes snowbelts through Wednesday.Several inches of additional snow may pile up in the typically hard-hit areas of New York, Pennsylvania, northern Ohio and northern Michigan.Some of these areas have already picked up multiple feet of snow.

Heavy lake-effect snow will remain in place over the Great Lakes snowbelts until this lake-effect snow factory shuts down Wednesday.

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Several impressive bands have already dumped multiple feet of snow in the snowbelts to the east of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

Erie, Pennsylvania, was digging out from over five feet of snow, .

Tuesday, that Lake Erie snowband shifted south, hammering snowbelt counties of northeast Ohio to the northeast of Cleveland. North Kingsville, in Ashtabula County, picked up 18.5 inches of snow in just 12 hours.

Notoriously snowy locations in New York state's Tug Hill Plateau, such as Redfield, had already picked upmorethan five feet of lake-effect snow, and Old Forge hadreported more than two feet, following snow they received earlier from .

The 62.2 inchesof snow near Redfield since Christmas set a new unofficial two-day snowfall record for Oswego County. The previous record was 57 inches set at Bennetts Bridge in February 2008.

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In Michigan, parts of Alger County in the Upper Peninsula picked up a foot of snow in just 12 hours through midday Tuesday.

The ingredients for this latest blitz of lake snow are rather straightforward.

The coldest air of the season is spilling over the Great Lakes the next few days.Given it's only late December, much of the Great Lakes remain ice-free.

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Great Lakes ice cover as of Dec. 21, 2017. Areas in white are ice-free.

(National Ice Center via NWS-Cleveland)

The instability from the temperature difference between the cold air flowing over the relatively warmer water generates bands of heavy lake-effect snow, dumping prolific snowfall on the downwind shores of the Great Lake snowbelts.

Lake-Effect Forecast

Various winter storm warnings and lake-effect snow warnings continue through Wednesday from Upper Michigan to upstate New York, lasting into Thursday morning in a few areas of western New York.

The National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York, warned of difficult travel conditions through Wednesday.

Locally heavy lake-snow showers and strong winds leading to wind chills in the 20s below zerowere also expected to persist in the northern Michigan snowbelts.

These bands of heavy lake-effect snow are expected to persist until later Wednesday, after which a weak weather system arriving from the west is expected to disrupt the wind flow over the Great Lakes.

Total snow accumulations from this event may approach 5 feet to the east of Lake Ontario in the Tug Hill Plateau, and 3 feet in the hills of southwest New York state.

Several inches of additional snowfall is expected in northwest Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio, as well asin the northern Michigan snowbelts.

As usual in these events, conditions can change rapidly from no snow with a partly sunny sky to intense, whiteout conditions in the matter of miles.

Do not travel in these lake-effect snowbelts during these events, if possible. If youabsolutely must, let a friend or family member know where you are and in case you become stranded.