Massive snowfall buries parts of western NY
BUFFALO (New York): Piles of snow, in some places taller than most people, buried parts of western and northern New York as a lake-effect storm pounded areas east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario for a third straight day, with possibly even more to come.
Snowfall totals as high as 196cm were reported on Saturday in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park. Partway across the state, the town of Natural Bridge, near the Fort Drum Army base, reported just under 1.8m of snow.
The snowfall in some spots ranked among the highest ever recorded in the area, rivalling the eye-popping amounts that fell during similar storms in 2014 and 1945.
The snowfall totals, which began accumulating on Thursday night in some spots, “would be on the order of historic not only for any time of year but for any part of the country,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Pereira, at the NWS headquarters in College Park, Maryland.
The lake-effect storm, caused by cold air picking up moisture from warmer lakes, created narrow bands of windblown snow that dumped feet of snow in some communities, while leaving towns a short drive away relatively unscathed.
It wreaked havoc on some roadways, as trucks that took to smaller backroads to avoid a closure on parts of an interstate in the area ended up in mass gridlock that Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz described on social media as “tractor-trailer demo derby day”.
It also wreaked havoc on the wedding plans of Robert Junge and Maria Szeglowski, who had picked this day for their nuptials after getting engaged exactly a year ago.
Their reception venue cancelled, rescheduling for next week. The musician they hired for their church ceremony also could not make it, along with more than half of their expected 180 guests.
But they were determined, using one of two limos they rented to get the bride to the church, while Junge drove himself.
“Nothing was going to stop me from marrying her, no matter what,” said Junge, 35, of North Tonawanda, New York.
On the bright side, he said, the snow was “going to make for some beautiful pictures”.