Big snow dump

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 yesterday, with possibly more to come. The snowfall in some spots ranked among the highest recorded in the area. The storm was caused by cold air picking up moisture from warmer lakes, creating narrow bands of windblown snow. 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.”