The National Weather Service is describing the episode as 'crippling' and 'paralyzing.'
Thursday night into Friday morning, there were numerous reports of thundersnow, as the intense snow bands, fueled by extreme differences between the relatively warm Lake Erie and frigid air above, unleashed thunder and lightning like a summer tempest.Across the Buffalo metro area, snowfall totals thus far have walked a steep gradient. About 19.5 inches had stacked up near the rail yard in south Buffalo, with 5.3 inches in Kenmore, about 5½ miles to the north-northwest.
The snow bands are expected to remain pointed at the east-northeast shores of the lakes through Friday night, but they may drift north on Saturday afternoon in response to a more southerly component of the winds. Off Lake Erie, that may mean a break for places like Blasdell, West Seneca, Lackawanna and the greater Buffalo area, with the same being true for Watertown off Lake Ontario.
The snow bands will shift south again on Sunday as winds become westerly, crossing past their initial positions before targeting areas even farther south that dodged most of the initial snowfall. That could mean 9 to 12 inches for Oswego County, where a winter storm watch is in effect. A pulse of snows will also target New York state’s Western Southern Tier near and especially north of the Allegheny River.
Instigating the snowfall is a stubborn upper-air weather pattern dominated by a sprawling dip in the jet stream, or trough, over the eastern United States. At the high altitudes, a pocket of cold air, low pressure and spin has nestled itself within that southward jet deviation, and it will ebb and flow over the Great Lakes during the coming days. A more concentrated lobe of frigid air aloft will swing directly over Lakes Erie and Ontario on Saturday.
It’s not the first time prolific lake-effect snow has buried Buffalo and surrounding areas. Between Nov. 14 and 21, 2014, a pair of back-to-back lake-effect snowstorms dumped
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