Lake effect snow forms downwind of a lake or other body of water in response to cold air blowing over warm water. Interestingly enough, this past Monday, “lake effect” snow occurred downwind of a waste water treatment plant. The National Weather Service in State College, Pennsylvania reported “several tenths of snow fell over a roughly three square-mile area near the Nittany mall.”
NWS considered this snowfall to be a microscale event (spatial scale 2 km or less) which was too isolated to be picked up from local reporting stations. The map below identifies the region that received light snow; no precipitation accumulated outside of the yellow-circled area.
Many of you are probably thinking, “Ew. Snow formed and fell in response to waste water? Wouldn’t that be contaminated?” Luckily, when water evaporates, it leaves behind any chemicals – including sewage particles. Social media users still had a little bit of fun with the situation, however.
@PSU_RadarMeteo @PSUWeather @capitalweather Don’t eat yellow snow and snow downwind of sewage treatment plants I guess.
— Ryan Hanrahan (@ryanhanrahan) December 8, 2015
‘Lake’ effect snow from a sewage treatment plant? Sounds gross, but it happened. https://t.co/aNGcsEQ75y
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 9, 2015
I’ve heard of Thundersnow, but I’ve gotta admit, Poop Snow is a new one on me. Way to go, State College. https://t.co/UWcQj5Nh6E
— Chris Krewson (@ckrewson) December 10, 2015