The second of two rounds of lake-effect snow this week began to wind down across the eastern Great Lakes Thursday evening.

This latest round of lake-effect snow in the eastern Great Lakes has dumped up to 39 inches east of Lake Ontario at Lorraine, New York, from Tuesday through Thursday. To the southeast of Lake Erie, Perrysburg, New York, picked up the most snow with 25.5 inches during the same time frame.

One of the lake-effect bands took aim at Buffalo, New York, Wednesday evening, where at one point. Syracuse, New York, set a daily snowfall record after picking up 13.7 inches on Wednesday.

In the first round of lake-effect snow late Sunday through Monday, up to 38 inches was measured east of Lake Ontario in Lorraine, New York. About 25 inches of snow was reported east of Lake Erie in Angola, New York.

(MORE: )

In between the rounds of lake-effect snow, a clipper system spread locally heavy snow and gusty winds across a larger area from the Great Lakes into the Ohio Valley and Northeast late Monday through Tuesday.

The clipper was accompanied by a dangerous combination of brief heavy snow squalls and strong winds, resulting in treacherous travel conditions in parts of those regions.early Tuesday after bands of brief heavy snow and strong winds moved through, resulting in low visibility.

In Buffalo, New York, thundersnow was reported just after noon Tuesday when a band of heavy snow from the clipper system moved across the metro area. That burst of snow was also accompanied by a wind gust of 64 mph at the airport. Just north of Buffalo inTonawanda three inches of snow fell in just 30 minutes.

Farther south, the first flakes of the season were reported from the system in the Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. metro areas Tuesday evening.

Here are the highest snowfall totals by state from this clipper system, near or east of the Appalachians, not greatly influenced by lake-effect snow.

Maine: 10 inches near Turner.

New York: 7.0 inches at Granville.

New Hampshire: 4.5 inches near Madison.

Vermont: 4 inches at Woodford.

Connecticut: 2.9 inches at Berlin.

Massachusetts: 2.5 inches at Worcester.

Pennsylvania:1.9 inches at Tobyhanna.

What is Lake-Effect Snow?

Lake-effect snow is a common sight in the snowbelts downwind of the Great Lakes in late fall and winter.

After a cold front passes through, chilly winds mainly from the west or northwest flow over the relatively warmer waters of the lakes and gather moisture, allowing clouds and bands of lake-effect snow to develop. This snow, sometimes heavy, then piles up in locations generally to the east and southeast of the Great Lakes.

The direction and duration of the winds in combination with the difference in temperature between the air mass and the water of the lake typically dictates how much snow will fall in any one location. See the video at the link below for more information.

(VIDEO:)

For two of America's snowiest cities, Boonville, N.Y. (193.5 inches each season) and Hancock, Mich. (211.9 inches each season), lake-effect snow is a big contributor to the monstrous snow totals seen each season.

But it's not just the Great Lakes where this phenomenon occurs., including lakes, bays and oceans, that have produced snow from the same basic ingredients described above.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Great Lakes Snowfall Since January 11

Snowy conditions at the Buffalo airport Wednesday evening. (Twitter/Buffalo Airport)