Pizzawheel

Here ya go:

Yardworks 20-in 13A Electric Snowthrower | Canadian Tire

Principal downside of a plug-in chainsaw is limited range when terrifying the ankle biters.

BristolUK

I'm not sure what "lake effect" snow is, but looking at nothing more than annual snowfall everywhere Kingston to London (and around to Hanilton) gets between half and two thirds what we get.

That's a massive difference.

Toronto would likely be out of the question for us but lots of other places would be affordable.

Moncton gets 282cm.
Hamilton 118
Kingston 157
Kitchener 159
London 194
St Catharines and Peterborough both on 137

What am I not considering?

MarylandNed

Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water, warming the lower layer of air which picks up water vapour from the lake, rises up through the colder air above, freezes and is deposited on the leeward (downwind) shores.

London, ON gets more rain and more snow because of moisture picked up from Lake Huron which is then dumped on London.

BristolUK

Thanks. However Moncton gets more annual rainfall than London and 282cm snow as against 194.

MarylandNed

Yes, because of moisture picked up from the Atlantic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Moncton#Winter

"Major snowfalls can result from nor'easter ocean storms moving up the east coast of North America, following the jet stream from the southeastern United States. Large amounts of precipitation can result from the counterclockwise rotation of these storms picking up moisture from the Atlantic Ocean and dumping it on southeastern New Brunswick as the storms pass by to the south and east of the region. This can be amplified locally by "sea effect" snow squall activity due to northeasterly winds passing over the nearby Gulf of St. Lawrence on the trailing edge of the storm."

Novocastrian

Your description of Lake Effect Snow is 100% accurate. However with specific reference to London ON there is another unfortunate consequence of its location with respect to the Great Lakes.

I think most people are familiar with Sea Breezes, which arise because of differing thermal capacities in the ocean and the land so that the temperature difference between the sea surface and the coastal land surface oscillates in sign during the nights compared to the days.

The Great Lakes are large enough to give rise to Lake Breezes for the same reasons.

Now, London happens to be located where the on-shore lake breezes from Lake Erie to the south and Lake Huron to the northwest converge in the late afternoons in summer. This lake breeze convergence forces the warm moist air to rise rapidly, in turn initiating deep convection and the formation of cumulonimbus (thunder) clouds.

So London and surrounds get dumped on by snow in the winter and saturated by thunder storms in summer.

HTH.

dbd33

The distribution of fall. In technical terms, the degree of whomp. 100" spread over the winter is a different problem to 24" in one day and the areas in question get lots of inches all at once.

BristolUK

Still not seeing the downside I'm afraid. In inches London is getting 76. So if they get 24 once that leaves little the rest of the winter.

Currentresults.com for London
Most days of snowfall in London leave less than five centimetres (2 inches), of fresh snow on the ground. For 13 days a year on average, the amount of new snow totals at least five cm.

Big snowstorms of over ten cm a day normally occur about four times a year. But major blizzards that dump 25 cm or more in one day are rare events that happen only once a decade.

Currentresults.com for Moncton
Most days of snowfall in Moncton leave less than five centimetres (2 inches) of fresh snow on the ground. For 19 days a year on average, the amount of new snow totals at least five cm.

Big snowstorms of over ten cm a day normally occur nine or ten times a year. Major blizzards that dump 25 cm or more in one day happen just once or twice a year.

13 times a year, 4 times a year and once in a decade as opposed to 19, 9/10 and once or twice a year

Even if I was looking to move to London you're not succeeding in putting me off.

dbd33

OK then, it's your back.