Being located in the snowbelt region, Marquette receives a significant amount of snowfall during the winter months, mostly from lake-effect snow. Because Lake Superior rarely freezes over completely, this enables lake effect snow to persist throughout winter, making Marquette the third snowiest location in the contiguous United States as reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with an average annual snowfall of . The snow depth in winter usually exceeds . Marquette is the city with the deepest snow depths with a population of more than 20,000 in the US (and one of the largest in North America outside the western Cordillera or eastern Canada), as temperatures remain low throughout the winter and cold, dry air is intercepted by the Great Lakes.