Heavy snow in Buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A dangerous lake-effect snowstorm paralyzed parts of western and northern New York on Friday, with 3 feet of snow already on the ground in some places by early afternoon. The storm was blamed for the deaths of two people stricken while clearing snow.
The storm’s severity varied widely because of the peculiarities of lake-effect storms, which are caused by frigid winds picking up moisture from the warmer lakes and dumping snow in narrow bands.
Residents in some parts of Buffalo awoke to blowing, heavy snow, punctuated by occasional claps of thunder, while just a few miles north, only a few inches had fallen overnight and there were patches of blue sky.
The worst snowfall so far was south of the city. The National Weather Service reported 2 feet of snow in many places along the eastern end of Lake Erie, with bands of heavier precipitation bringing 36 inches in the Buffalo suburbs of Hamburg and Orchard Park, N.Y.
Schools were shuttered. Amtrak stations in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Depew closed Thursday and will stay closed Friday. Numerous flights in and out of Buffalo Niagara International Airport were canceled.
The storm was blamed for two deaths, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said, tweeting that they were “associated with cardiac events related to exertion during shoveling/snow blowing.”
Even before the snow began falling, the NFL announced it would relocate the Buffalo Bills’ home game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns from its Orchard Park stadium to Detroit.
A day later, the Bills tweeted photos of Highmark Stadium showing the playing field and its more than 60,000 seats virtually buried in snow, and forecasters warned of an additional foot or more by Sunday.
Scott Fleetwood of West Seneca captured video of lightning crashing outside his home throughout the night, as well as snow swiftly burying the pumpkins on his porch.
“My tiki bar is now an igloo,” he said.
With numerous cars stuck and abandoned, Mayor Byron Brown urged people to stay off the roads in hard-hit south Buffalo, where extra city and private plows were deployed to open up snow-clogged neighborhood streets.
“When the snow is falling between 3 to 4, 5 inches an hour, you can’t beat it,” he cautioned drivers at a news conference. “You are going to get stuck.”
Meanwhile, streets in downtown and north Buffalo had been cleared but were virtually empty of traffic Friday afternoon.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency Thursday for parts of western New York, including communities along the eastern ends of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The declaration covers 11 counties, with commercial truck traffic banned from a stretch of Interstate 90.
Poloncarz issued a driving ban beginning Thursday night, though it was downgraded to an advisory for most of the city of Buffalo on Friday. The most intense snowfall was expected to last through Friday evening, with more falling today into Sunday.
The weather service also warned of accumulations of 2 feet or more of snow in northern New York on the eastern edge of Lake Ontario, and in parts of northern Michigan through Sunday. Parts of Pennsylvania also were seeing accumulations of lake-effect snow.
Buffalo has experience with dramatic lake-effect snowstorms, few worse than the one that struck in November 2014. That epic storm dumped 7 feet of snow on some communities over three days, collapsing roofs and trapping motorists in more than 100 vehicles on a lakeside stretch of the New York State Thruway.