Update: Widespread Lake Effect Snows Piled Up Big Time

Intense lake effect snow squalls stalled traffic along
Interstate 90 in Ripley, New York. 

 I don't know if the Great Lakes effect snowstorms this weekend were the biggest on record, but damn, they were pretty big. And awfully widespread. 

After a warm autumn, all of the lakes are warm, and the first big cold push of the season really cranked that snow, starting Thursday and going through today. g

The heavy snow covered shorelines from Michigan to New York, and included lots of amazing totals. 

Some of the biggest totals by state so far include: 

New York: 46 inches at Barnes Corners and Copenhagen

Pennsylvania 42.3 inches at North East

Ohio: 39 inches at Ashtabula,

Michigan: 34 inches at Otsego Lake State Park.

Mind you, this was at 10 a.m. Sunday. It was still snowing at a good clip in many locations this afternoon. 

 Parts of Canada weren't immune.  Highway 11, a major thoroughfare north of Toronto, was shut down by blinding snow squalls that dumped two feet of snow within a day and a half. 

The storms caused havoc on Friday and over the weekend in some of the hardest hit towns. The New York State Thruway was shut down roughly between Buffalo and the Pennsylvania line Friday, and hundreds of vehicles were stranded overnight along the highway. 

The snow squalls were so intense they were punctuated by thunder and lightning, and waterspouts were reported offshore of Buffalo over Lake Erie.

Not much snow fell in Buffalo, which was north of the main band of snow, but the Buffalo Bills' stadium in Orchard Park, south of Buffalo, was buried by at least 20 inches of snow.  The Bills requested help from fans to help shovel out the stand-in time for the game today. 

Erie, Pennsylvania endured its biggest snowstorm on record over the weekend with 31 inches, with possibly another foot on the way. After a brief break in the snow Saturday afternoon and evening heavy snow returned to Erie again Sunday. 

It's getting bad enough there that people were up on roofs shoveling, fearful the weight would be too much for some homes and buildings. 

The snow is becoming somewhat lighter and more scattered near the Great Lakes starting tonight and into the first half of the week. But an Arctic cold front due later in the week is likely to restart the intense squalls again. 

Vermont Effects

Radar image from the National Weather Service in 
South Burlington shortly after 10 a.m. today shows
a band of snow from Lake Ontario fading in the
Adirondacks, then getting reinvigorated over 
northern Lake Champlain. A narrow area around
Swanton and Highgate had briefly heavy snow,

The bands of lake effect snow were powerful enough Friday through Sunday to them to make it all the way to Vermont, but in a much milder fashion than seen in western New York. 

Sunday morning, the Lake Ontario band picked up some additional moisture from northern Lake Champlain. That was enough to reinvigorate the snow for awhile to dump two or three inches in a narrow zone around Swanton and Highgate. Meanwhile, in nearby St. Albans, there was barely a dusting of new snow.

The Lake Ontario snow bands also graced the northern Green Mountains. Jay Peak reported 15 inches of new snow between Friday morning and Sunday morning. 

Snow showers through the first half of the week should add some light accumulations to the higher elevations, but likely an inch or less in the valleys. 

Video:

This shows how localized these lake effect snow squalls are Television station WGRZ did a time lapse video of a drive from downtown Buffalo, New York to the suburbs to the south. 

Buffalo was a bit too far north this time to get the squalls. Downtown streets were clear of snow, green grass in parks had absolutely no snow. Drive a few miles and it was a practically a blizzard. You can see the thick snow squalls as the driver approached the snow zone. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Various scenes from the storm from the Associated Press, including the city of Erie, Pennsylvania buried beneath the snow. Again, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.