Buffalo Area Buried, and the Snow Keeps Falling

Buffalo is accustomed to snow. This weekend, however, the city and surrounding parts of Western New York are getting a storm for the books, with some areas already buried under several feet of the white stuff, and precipitation expected to continue through Sunday morning. In Orchard Park, about 20 minutes southeast of Buffalo, 5 1/2 feet of snow had fallen by Friday evening, per CNN. The Erie County suburbs of Hamburg, Elma, East Aurora, and West Seneca all saw at least 3 or 4 feet by nightfall, and the National Weather Service reports that Buffalo Niagara International Airport saw a new daily snowfall record, logging 13.9 inches as of 4am local time on Saturday (the old record was 7.6 inches, set in 2014).

USA Today reports that Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore even showed up in the area with his yardstick to keep tabs on the snowfall. However, while some parts have been pummeled, others have received just a few inches—the result of "the peculiarities of lake-effect storms, which are caused by frigid winds picking up moisture from warmer lakes and dumping snow in narrow bands," per the AP. Most of the snow has so far fallen south of Buffalo, though as of Saturday morning the storm had shifted north; it's expected to then shift south and back to the city again later Saturday, per the Buffalo News. Photos and videos of the accumulation, and of the snow barreling over the area, have been proliferating online since the storm started on Thursday.

Even the Buffalo Bills—whose Sunday home game against the Cleveland Browns was moved to Detroit in anticipation of the weather event—shared a photo of Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park buried under the white powder, per WIVB. The weather event has led to stuck vehicles, traffic snarls, and canceled flights and Amtrak rides, and two people have died as a result of the storm, "associated with cardiac events related to exertion during shoveling/snow blowing," per Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. He has issued warnings to locals to avoid shoveling the heavy snow if possible, stay off the roads, and to not run generators inside one's home or garage if the power goes out, due to the dangers of carbon monoxide. (More Buffalo stories.)