Shovel Off to Buffalo: Lake Effect Snow on Steroids Reaches Over 3 Feet, Strands Motorists

The National Weather Service (NWS) reports that huge lake effect snowfalls have been observed over a narrow band south of Buffalo, NY in the last 2 days. The prodigious precipitation results from a perfect alignment of Arctic air flow over the relatively warmer waters of Lake Erie.

In the 48 hours ending 8 am today (Dec. 3), as much as 42" of snow was measured by a NWS employee in the town of Depew. The Associated Press, via The Weather Channel, reports that amounts varied widely over small distances, however:

Within the City of Buffalo itself, totals ranged from a dusting in the northern half of the city to an inch or two downtown to over 2 feet in south Buffalo!

Associated Press, via USA Today, reports that motorists were stranded as long as 20 hours on the New York State Thruway:

Emergency procedures will be reviewed after a lake-effect snowstorm and a flawed response left hundreds of motorists stranded for hours on a highway, the head of the New York State Thruway Authority said Friday.

Executive Director Michael Fleischer said the agency should have closed nearly two dozen non-toll entrance ramps to Interstate 90 much sooner after jackknifed tractor-trailers blocked traffic just east of Buffalo. He also said officials should have done a better job alerting drivers that delays loomed ahead and shouldn't have waited so long to get help to the stranded motorists, some stuck for 20 hours or more.

Here are some of the more outrageous amounts reported by the NWS from Erie County:

********************STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL********************

LOCATION          STORM TOTAL    TIME/DATE    COMMENTS
                     SNOWFALL       OF
                     (INCHES)   MEASUREMENT

...ERIE COUNTY...
   DEPEW                 42.0   800 AM  12/3 NWS EMPLOYEE
   BUFFALO               39.0  1000 AM  12/3 SE CORNER BUFFALO
   ELMA                  30.0   800 AM  12/3 NWS EMPLOYEE
   WEST SENECA           30.0   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   LANCASTER             29.5  1059 AM  12/3 NWS EMPLOYEE
   LANCASTER             29.0   800 AM  12/3 NWS EMPLOYEE
   WEST SENECA           24.7   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   MARILLA               23.0   800 AM  12/3 SOUTHERN PORTION
   LANCASTER             22.0   800 AM  12/3 NWS EMPLOYEE
   BLASDELL              20.3   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   BUFFALO               20.0   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS - FIRST WARD
   WALES                 16.0   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   AKRON                 14.0   900 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   ELMA CENTER           13.0   800 AM  12/3 NWS EMPLOYEE
   EAST AURORA           10.7   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   BUFFALO                9.2   800 AM  12/3 AIRPORT
   BOSTON                 7.0   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   GLENWOOD               6.5   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   WILLIAMSVILLE          5.8   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   CLARENCE CENTER        4.5   800 AM  12/3 SPOTTER
   WILLIAMSVILLE          2.8   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   TONAWANDA              1.2   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS
   KENMORE                1.0   800 AM  12/3 COCORAHS 

Images (click to enlarge): Traffic blocked by heavy snow on the New York State Thruway near Buffalo, NY, Dec. 2, 2010, AP photo via The Weather Channel; Total snowfall, Dec. 1-3, 2010, from NWS; Surface weather map at 8 am EDT, Dec. 2, 2010