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Worst football weather cities can blame Lake Erie
The Weather Channel's out with its list of the National Football League's worst weather cities.
The cable network used a bunch of science and stuff -- you know, meteorology -- to score cities on how much precipitation falls, average winds, and of course, temperatures
below 32 degrees.
The runner up was Cleveland, where the Browns play right on the banks of Lake Erie. But the worst NFL weather city, according to the Weather Channel, is...
Buffalo, NY. -- whose Bills also play at Ralph Wilson Stadium, also not too far from Lake Erie.
Must be something about that lake.
Rounding out the top 5:
- Pittsburgh (Steelers)
- Green Bay (Packers)
- Kansas City (Chiefs)
Very simple answer: Lake effect. In November and December it is notoriously overcast (near 90% of the time) and uninviting downwind of Lake Erie. Cold air blowing across the warmer lake picks up moisture as it warms up, then as soon as it hits land and quickly rises up off lake plain, that moisture condenses into clouds. Very often, the clouds can't hold all that moisture and drop in the form of rain or snow. The Buffalo area is quite flat, and thus the winds are unimpeded. When the lake freezes ("if" in some years), then the snow machine is much less fierce. Take warmth, though, in the many neghborhood restaurants and bars in Buffalo which are always warm and inviting!
