On Mon, 6 Oct 2003 11:29:53 +0000 (UTC), (Paul
Tomblin) wrote:

Ok, it's coming up to that season, and was vividly demonstrated when I got
hit by hail driving through Watertown last night. I drive a lot between
Rochester NY and Ottawa Ontario, and Rochester NY and Whitby Ontario, and
frequently those drives are in good VFR conditions except for that band of
lake effect snow coming off of Lake Ontario at Watertown, and the one
coming off of Lake Erie at Buffalo.

This will be my first year with an instrument ticket, and I'm wondering if
I can fly these trips.
Questions:

1. How high up do those bands go? Can I go over them without oxygen?

I can only speak for the Michigan end. Here the lake effect snows
seldom go above about 6,000, BUT early in the season and again on
toward spring all bets are off.

I've not seen any that I couldn't get over with out oxygen. However
that is no guarantee.


2. If I can't go over them, do they produce airframe ice?

You are asking about snow storms and not lake effect storms in
general.

When I've been in Lake Effect Snow Storms the temperatures were in the
teens, or even lower and I saw no ice accumulation at all.

Just remember there are Lake effect enhanced snows and lake effect
snows. The main thing is to watch the temperatures.

Some people won't fly over water and some won't fly over storms. I do
both, but I try to stay within a reasonable distance to safety. Lake
effect storms are seldom wide...Long, certainly, but many are no more
than 20 or 30 miles wide. Some of them coming off the end of Lake
Eire can be wider.


Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)