I’ve never understood what they mean by “Lake Effect Snow”. It seems that they use that term for anything and everything.
Here I sit, practically on the shores of Lake Michigan. We were threatened with a “significant” Lake Effect snowstorm. Yet, we got about 3-4 inches, and inland in Madison they got 20 inches. Will any forecaster take to the air and say that they were wrong? Never. They are as bad as the political prognosticators.
We are also on the top of a hill, and we generally get MORE snow than lower lying areas. And it lasts longer too. Sorry about your hip. It’s my knees that are bothering me, and I’m terrified of replacement surgery — if they’d even have me as a patient.
It’s when the warmer lake water is absorbed by passing cold fronts and then deposited on the land. You have to be downwind from the lake. The highest amount of snow is not necessarily right on the shore. It takes some time/distance for the effect to take place.