People love to slam Buffalo over weather

[KRT88]

Wow, look at the damage from Hurricane Katrina, how in the world can people accorss this nation slam Buffalo for its weather? Growing up in North Tonawanda, and living in Niagara county for most of my first 29 year, I never remember WNY getting it with anything close to as devastating as a hurrican,e tornado, earthquake, volcanic eruption, etc.

 

So Buffalo gets little snow! And it gets cold from time to time, at least we don't have weather that destroys even 10% of the structures in the area and Katrina looks like it nailed 70 to 80%. Even when south Buffalo got 7 feet of snow in a week a few years back, most people were safe. New Orleans may never be the same and it looks like Gulfport was wiped from the map.

 

My mother always says, snow melts, and not all at once. I now live in NC about 75 miles from the coast and I remember Hurricane Floyd from 1999. It brush my area, but wow, it was a powerful brush, water everywhere, 50 - 60 mph winds, my appartment suffered some damage, my ceiling colasped in my bedroom after I lost some roof tiles, but I didn't care about that. I was safe, I had food, water, power after 48 hours. I can't even imagine what it is like down near the gulf coast.

 

God bless Mississippi, Louisania and southern Alabama. I hope the governments gets some troops down there to help with recovery and aid because those people need help.

[Alaska Darin]

Too soon.

[dib]

I have 'discussions' with people all the time down here about Buffalo and among other things Buffalo's weather. "Oh it snows all the time up there" to which I reply "Maybe, but a snow storm never blew my roof off and spread it over 3 counties."

Oh, btw, I'm almost done repairing the Katrina damage to my house. The worst I ever had to do in Buffalo was shovel out the drive.

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

After living in NYC for 8 years, I'm afraid what would happen WHEN (not if) a storm hits their overdeveloped and unprotected shoreline.

 

You just can't educate people about water dangers.

[CoachChuckDickerson]

It is easy to knock folks for where they live at a time like this. Did you know Buffalo is located right by a major fault line in the ground. A catastrophic eathquake could flatten the region at any time. Are folks dumb for living in western ny? I hate the arguement some people try and make that "it was only a matter of time" and "why are they living there".

[rockpile]

There was Hurricane Agnes in the early 70's that made a lake from Rochester to Mt. Morris dam. People were water skiiing in the corn fields and pastures near Geneseo (hello, sunken logs and barbed wire fences mean anything?)

 

There have been a few nasty ice storms too, but I agree. In general a storm never tossed my roof across the road, and the worst flooding I got was about a foot deep in my basement.

 

I have seen people (Perry Center) exiting their house from the 2nd floor, sliding down a drift, and tunneling back to the front door because the snow drifts were so high.

 

Good luck to all the folks in the path of this storm!

 

Wow, look at the damage from Hurricane Katrina, how in the world can people accorss this nation slam Buffalo for its weather?  Growing up in North Tonawanda, and living in Niagara county for most of my first 29 year, I never remember WNY getting it with anything close to as devastating as a hurrican,e tornado, earthquake, volcanic eruption, etc. 

 

So Buffalo gets little snow!  And it gets cold from time to time, at least we don't have weather that destroys even 10% of the structures in the area and Katrina looks like it nailed 70 to 80%.  Even when south Buffalo got 7 feet of snow in a week a few years back, most people were safe.  New Orleans may never be the same and it looks like Gulfport was wiped from the map.

 

My mother always says, snow melts, and not all at once.  I now live in NC about 75 miles from the coast and I remember Hurricane Floyd from 1999.  It brush my area, but wow, it was a powerful brush, water everywhere, 50 - 60 mph winds, my appartment suffered some damage, my ceiling colasped in my bedroom after I lost some roof tiles, but I didn't care about that.  I was safe, I had food, water,  power after 48 hours.  I can't even imagine what it is like down near the gulf coast.

 

God bless Mississippi, Louisania and southern Alabama.  I hope the governments gets some troops down there to help with recovery and aid because those people need help.

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[aussiew]

And the snow never had to move our football games to another city.

[buckeyemike]

It is easy to knock folks for where they live at a time like this. Did you know Buffalo is located right by a major fault line in the ground. A catastrophic eathquake could flatten the region at any time. Are folks dumb for living in western ny? I hate the arguement some people try and make that "it was only a matter of time" and "why are they living there".

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Do you have a link re: fault line in WNY?

 

Yes, Buffalo had the Blizzard of '77. We had a huge one on January 26, 1978 in Cleveland. The whole state of Ohio was declared a disaster area. I was in the third grade, and I remember school being cancelled for two days and my brother sleeping in my parent's room because the wind was howling so much, my father thought Andy's window would shatter. He was only five years old at the time.

 

No matter where you live, nature can unleash its wrath. That's the important thing to remember.

 

I'd still rather have a snowstorm than a hurricane, though.

 

Mike

[sweet baboo]

I'd like to experience one more blizzard before I leave WNY next year

 

unlike others who complain about the weather here all the time, I love snow

[BRH]

We had a huge one on January 26, 1978 in Cleveland.  The whole state of Ohio was declared a disaster area.  I was in the third grade, and I remember school being cancelled for two days and my brother sleeping in my parent's room because the wind was howling so much, my father thought Andy's window would shatter.  He was only five years old at the time.

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Ah yes, the famous Killer Storm From Cleveland. I was in third grade too here in Rochester and they sent us all home early from school. The supermarkets were jammed with people frantically stocking up on supplies. We all hunkered down to wait...and it never came. Veered off south of us or something. We got a few flakes.

 

That was a fun day off from school.

 

I got paid back this past March when I got stuck in your bastard of a snowstorm flying back from Nashville through Cleveland, though. Plane tried to land at Hopkins, bounced all over hell and gone and pulled up at the last second and went to Detroit where they said they'd gas up and try again. I said not with me you ain't. I got off the plane -- they told me I'd have to pick up my bag in Cleveland and I said fine, I don't give a sh-- about my bag. I rented a car and drove to Cleveland, stayed overnight at the airport hotel, and the next morning found that the plane had tried and failed to land twice, first getting diverted to Pittsburgh and then to Richmond for the night. I finally got them to agree to send my bag to Rochester and set out on the road for home. It took me ten hours, including 4 hours to traverse the 40 miles of Pennsylvania I-90. But I much preferred it to another go-round on that frickin' plane.

[Catholic Guilt]

I went through hurricane Hugo in Charlotte, NC. For those who don't know, Charlotte is hundreds of miles inland. We were crushed - broken windows, downed trees and power out for a week.

 

 

I also went through the blizzard of 77. I'll take the snow ANYDAY.

[NJ_BillsFan]

I have lived on the Jersey Shore for my whole life. About 10 - 15 years ago, the state paid millions of dollars for huge barges to pump more sand on the shoreline. After this process was complete, the beaches were huge. Well, each year the storms get stronger and more plentiful. THe beaches are back to being erroded messes.

 

It is scary how the development of the waterfront is so rapid and yet the shoreline is decreasing just as fast. I think no matter where you live, if you haven't had weather problems in the past, don't hold your breath.

 

Mother Nature is unpredicatable. 2 summers ago we had a thunderstorm swipe through my area (long branch). Well it was so severe twisters actually formed and spun and ripped trees out of the ground. Monmouth University, the college next to my house, lost something like 100 trees. Power was out for a good week and a half. It was unbelievable. It made local news and thats about it. You would never think twisters would strike down on the Jersey shore.

 

It is devastating what happened in the south. I really hope that it gets better for those poor people and they can get back to their normal lives as quickly as possible.

[Stussy109]

The scariest situation will be if/when something ever happens to ruin the hoover damn which provides power and drinking water to millions out in the dry west.

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

Do you have a link re:  fault line in WNY?

 

Yes, Buffalo had the Blizzard of '77.  We had a huge one on January 26, 1978 in Cleveland.  The whole state of Ohio was declared a disaster area.  I was in the third grade, and I remember school being cancelled for two days and my brother sleeping in my parent's room because the wind was howling so much, my father thought Andy's window would shatter.  He was only five years old at the time.

 

No matter where you live, nature can unleash its wrath.  That's the important thing to remember. 

 

I'd still rather have a snowstorm than a hurricane, though.

 

Mike

424019[/snapback]

 

No link...and I don't know that it's "major", but Buffalo is on a pretty significant fault. I don't think a quake's ever been recorded higher than about 5.4 (back in the '50s)...but then, buildings in WNY aren't built up to California standards, either.

[CoachChuckDickerson]

Do you have a link re:  fault line in WNY?

 

424019[/snapback]

 

It was something I learned back in school. These folks could propably tell you more if you are interested. LINKY

[Marv Levy]

You can shovel out snow, but you can't shovel out water!

 

I hope NOLA can recover.

[jarthur31]

This just in...............snow is cold!

[dib]

a major fault line in the ground.

 

As opposed to?

 

The Niagara gorge is part of that fault.

[Mr Info]

First, all my hope and prayers go to the folks affected by Katrina.

 

I no longer live in WNY not because I do not like snow - I ski whenever I have the chance. But I do not like snow (or cold) 4-5 months a year.

 

I live in central VA and we have had bouts with hurricanes, tornados, and ice storms, but fortunately, where we live it has only resulted in minor inconveniences. For us, trading these potential risks against the guarantee of 4-5 months of cold & snow every year was a relatively easy decision to make.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Did you know that Buffalo is the Solar Capital of the NE or several months of the year?

 

Buffalo gets more sunshine than any other City in the NE US for several months out of the year and actually even gets more sunshine than most cities in the so-called Sunbelt for part of the year.

 

This is true fact for a couple of reasons:

 

1. Alasks is called the Land of the Midnight Sun on the summer solstice of June 21st because the Earth is tilted on its axis such that in the winter the northern climes of the US get more sun and have longer days than southern locations.

 

Buffalo is actually one of the furthest north locations in the US that also qualifies a city so thus we get more sunlight on June 21st than Sunbelt locations in Florida, the Carolinas or other places.

 

2. In addition to getting more raw sunlight, the same climatological factors which cause huge Lake Effect snowfalls reverses in warmer weather and actually breals up cloud cover around the Lakes.

 

Specifically, there is a temperature differential between the water of the Great Lakes and the land. In the winter the Lakes get no colder than about 32 degrees as the water freezes but the land gets much colder. Air picks up moisture from the lakes, blows over the much colder land and drops this mosture as snow.

 

In the summer, the land can actually get warmer than the water which moves and chops around as waves. Though this effect is way too small to impact large air masses and cloud cover like those making up Tropical Depression Katrina or clouds from the west, as clouds are formed by mositure from the Great Lakes they tend to break up once they get over the warmer land. Not only does Buffalo get more sunshine than many sunbelt cities approaching and moving away from the solstice but more of this gets through to the ground.

 

If you refuse to believe me then take the word or observe these actions by non-Buffalo residents.

 

Buffalo enviros and solar activists were able to convince the colleges which hold an international solar power watercraft contest called SolarSplash to come to Buffalo and hold their event with the help of the US Weather Service which monitors these types of things that in fact Buffalo did get more sunshine on June 21st than Sunbelt locations like Orlando, FL, and New Orleans, Dont believe me but believe the measurable numbers collected by the US Weather Service.

 

The second point is that not only was SolarSplash brought to Buffalo > http://www.solarsplash.com/ < but they came back an unprecedented 5 straight years because of the great sun location, the super volunteer team which helped them hold it here and the hospitality of local folks.

 

The numbers vary from year to year with the cloud cover, but for several months out of the year, Buffalo is a very sunny place to be and actually given how intolerably hot many of these places are and lil things like Hurricanes, Buffalo simply has some the best weather conditions in the country.

 

If one wondered why folks put up with the blizzards here which are bad, its because 2 months of weather terror, and 4-5 months of it being too gray here are really balanced by having a high temperature that maxes out in the 70s and a low that does not go below 50 for the other 7 months of the year.