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streamer
DCHP-2 (Jul 2016)
n. — Ontario, especially Southwestern Ontario, Outdoors
a long band of cloud connected with extreme snowfalls around the Great Lakes.
Type: 4. Culturally Significant — In the Great Lakes area, a streamer is a cloud pattern connected with the onset of lake-effect snow. As cold wind flows across warmer lake water, it picks up moisture, which rises by convection and freezes, to fall as snow on the downwind side of the lake. Streamer may simply refer to the appearance of the cloud, or in this sense may have its antecedent in a more specialized sense, "a long narrow strip of vapour, snow, etc.", which dates back to 1871 (see OED-3, s.v. "streamer" [2.e]). As Chart 1 shows, the term is most frequent in the US and Canada, which is to be expected considering both US states and Canadian provinces border the Great Lakes (the UK hits refer to the same effect on the Thames, on the Kent coast or in other locations).
See also COD-2, s.v. "streamer" (6), which is marked "Cdn".
See also COD-2, s.v. "streamer" (6), which is marked "Cdn".
See: wind chill
Most lake-effect snow delivered by streamers falls in Southwestern Ontario, impacting life there to a considerable degree, hence Type 4 - Culturally Significant.
Quotations
1991
The three-hour snowfall, which began at about noon, was linked to the tail end of a streamer extending southeast from Lake Huron, said Environment Canada.
1999
Environment Canada said the traffic chaos near the Kingston area was caused by a so-called streamer, heavy wet winds blowing in off Lake Ontario earlier yesterday.
2002
A freak lake-effect snow streamer that turned into a nasty, short-lived blizzard also proved that proper winter tires would be a prudent purchase.
2007
Flurries and squalls coming off the Great Lakes are difficult to predict, because they're often shortlived, localized and happen close to the ground, so radar doesn't always track them well.
A snow streamer may inundate one town, while another five kilometres away has blue skies.
2010
Dec. 6-8, while a seemingly interminable streamer off the unseasonably warm waters of Lake Huron deposited layer upon layer of snow around the school board's London headquarters, the children of West Lorne (in the far west of the Thames Valley's three-county jurisdiction) and Plattsville (in the far east) enjoyed skateboarding along sidewalks and soccer on the green grass . . . for three straight days without school.
2014
"I've been in transportation for over 20 years, and never seen anything like it," said David Frier, general manager of Huron Perth Student Transportation Services. "We've had snow squall warnings before, but I've never seen anything materialize that bad, and for that long. Usually a streamer passes through and moves on, but that just held on all day."
References
- COD-2
- OED-3
Images
