Over Six Feet And Counting: Today Is (Mostly) Final Day Of New York Snow Blitz

The sharp northern edge of the intense lake effect 
snow band as viewed from the Buffalo waterfront Friday.
Photo submitted to Twitter by Kristen Mirand @kristen_mirand

 The lake effect snow blitz in western New York continues on pace this morning, but the places receiving the heaviest snow have shifted. 

Until late afternoon yesterday, the main snow band of of Lake Erie stayed fixated on suburbs just to the south of Buffalo. At last report, Orchard Park had 77 inches of new snow, Blasdell, 65 inches and Hamburg 61 inches. 

To give you an idea of how localized these snow bands can be, and the small areas that can be affected, the 61 inches in Hamburg was measured a mile north of the town center. Another measurement, just one mile south of the Hamburg town center, yielded a less impressive but still nasty 34.5 inches.

Late yesterday and overnight, the main snow band shifted north, pounding downtown Buffalo for several hours. As of early this morning, that band was actually focused a bit north of Buffalo.

The snow band will slip south through Buffalo again tonight, but will only last three hours or so in any one location.

Suburbs south of Buffalo will get it again tomorrow, but not as badly as yesterday.

I'm a little surprised and dismayed about people getting caught and trapped in the snow on the New York State Thruway south of Buffalo.  Before the snow really began, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in that part of the state. The Thruway in the region was closed to commercial traffic.

Still, I saw on the news plenty of tractor trailer trucks stuck on the Thruway and I have to wonder why. Cars, too. One woman who was interviewed who got trapped in the snow on a long car trip said she checked the weather forecast from where she was departing and for her destination. She didn't check what was going on in between. 

Is weather messaging a problem? Why didn't this woman know what she was about to run into? Food for thought anyway. 

I also saw video of people trapped on local roads. Some of those interviewed said they were trying to go to or from work. I can see how essential employees, like hospital personnel, police, fire, emergency services had to work.

I have to wonder, though, how many employers simply didn't care about the dangers and insisted people work at the convenience store, or McDonald's or whatever. Some - not all - employers worship the dollar above all else, even their employees' lives.

Maybe I'm making assumptions here, but that is my worry.

Already, two people have died in this storm - heart attacks suffered by people trying to remove this snow.

This whole thing should wind tomorrow, but I imagine it will take forever to clean the mess up.

Videos:

From WAAY-TV: Snow in Orchard Park, NY is too much for the snowblower: 

WAAY-TV also gives us a glimpse of a lovely Friday in Hamburg, New York: 

From WGRZ-TV, a wall of snow moves into downtown Buffalo, New York last evening: