Ok so what is it...2 feet or 2 inches???

[Tony P]

CNN and a lot of the national press are reporting 2 FEET of good ol' lake effect snow for the Queen City but the Buffalo News reports only 2 - 4 inches. So which is it???

 

I mean, this is kind of rhetorical but it points out the bad rap that WNY and Buffalo get on the national scene. Sensationalism. Evidently the facts are irrelevant.

[Simon]

CNN and a lot of the national press are reporting 2 FEET of good ol' lake effect snow for the Queen City but the Buffalo News reports only 2 - 4 inches. So which is it???

 

I mean, this is kind of rhetorical but it points out the bad rap that WNY and Buffalo get on the national scene. Sensationalism. Evidently the facts are irrelevant.

803630[/snapback]

With a narrow lake effect band it can be both 2" and 2' within a few miles of each other.

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=525149

 

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=525095

[Tony P]

With a narrow lake effect band it can be both 2" and 2' within a few miles of each other.

803640[/snapback]

 

Thanks Simon. I know how the Snow Belt thing works in the South Towns (having been born in Buffalo and lived in the city for 30 years).

 

I guess what I'm trying determine is where was the 2 feet - if it even happened at all - or is it just exaggeration?

[Tony P]

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=525149

 

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=525095

803642[/snapback]

 

Ok But... Darn! The links to the Buffalo News aren's working too well and I can't bring-up up the page for a link but here's what I pulled a few hours ago from the News:

 

Less than three weeks removed from summer's waning days, a thundering lake-effect snowstorm blitzed Buffalo Niagara on Thursday, knocking out power to more than 100,000 homes, felling large trees and creating havoc for travelers.

The early-autumn blast of winter, fueled by Lake Erie's 60-degree water, scored a direct hit on the Buffalo metro area and its northern and eastern suburbs. Trees still carrying their autumn leaves became too heavy with snow and their branches crashed to the ground, damaging homes, cars and power lines.

"The snow is so wet that it is doing tremendous damage to tree limbs and power lines," said Bob Hamilton, National Weather Service meteorologist.

Steve Brady, spokesman for National Grid, said the power company already expects some customers to be dark through the weekend. Crews will be called in from as far away as New England to help restore service.

"This is the worst possible time of year for us to get a snowstorm," Brady said. "There's an enormous amount of physical damage."

Snowfall totals were expected to range from 2 to 4 inches across northern Erie, Niagara, Orleans and Genesee counties. Localized areas were projected to receive as much as six inches.

Authorities issued advisories against unnecessary travel in Buffalo and the northern suburbs. Dozens of school districts - including Buffalo, Amherst, Clarence, Williamsville, Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda, City of Tonawanda, Sweet Home, West Seneca and Williamsville - announced they would be closed today.

City officials were working on setting up emergency shelters for those without power.

It isn't the earliest measurable snowfall in the city's weather history.

On Oct. 6, 1991, two-tenths of an inch of snow was recorded. And on Oct. 13, 1909, Buffalo registered six inches of snow.

Even though Thursday's totals were measured only in inches and not feet like past memorable lake-effect snowstorms, this storm packed an even more damaging punch, smothering trees and power lines with a think blanket of heavy, water-laden snow.

"We've never had anything this potent this early," Hamilton said.

Late Thursday night, wide power outages remained across the Buffalo metro area as well as northern and eastern suburbs. Emergency crews frantically responded into the teeth of the storm, handling dozens of vehicle accidents, downed power lines, streets blocked by fallen trees and darkened traffic lights.

The 911 emergency call center in Buffalo was inundated with calls. At about 10:30 p.m., all nine staffed employees were handling calls, according to its display board at Buffalo police headquarters. There were a dozen more calls waiting to be answered.

Injuries associated with the storm were still undetermined. Snyder firefighters were on the scene of a boy reportedly struck by a falling tree on South Union Road at about 10:30 p.m., Amherst Fire Control officials reported. No other details were available.

National Grid reported more than 100,000 customers were without power in Erie, Niagara and Genesee counties; New York State Electric & Gas also had 14,700 customers without power.

Among the customers without power was Buffalo Niagara International Airport, which lost power at 4:45 p.m. and remained operating on generators before closing at mid-evening, according to NFTA spokesman C. Douglas Hartmayer.

"Due to very poor visibility and some icing on the runway . . . we have had to close the runways . . . until we can get them into a better condition," Hartmayer said. One plane remained stuck on a runway late Thursday night.

Also, the jet bridges connecting airplanes to the terminal were not functional during the outage. That forced travelers to get onto or off of planes outside of the terminal, Hartmayer said.

Back in Buffalo, the storm mangled trees and ripped live wires from homes and power poles.

As many as 10 trees on Poultney Avenue buckled under the weight of the heavy snow, rendering the street impassable, police reported. Fallen trees also blocked traffic on Parkdale Avenue, Oakland Place, Delaware Avenue, Fenton Street, Cleveburn Place, Englewood Avenue and Amherst Street.

An electrical pole on Seneca Street snapped in two, leaving a transformer on the ground at about 6:15 p.m. Street lights flickered downtown and went off entirely in other parts of Elmwood Village and North Buffalo along with traffic lights. Buffalo police placed temporary stop signs at several intersections.

North Buffalo was especially hard-hit. Front lawns and curb strips along Parkside Avenue were littered with toppled limbs; a red, compact car parked in the street appeared trapped in the grip of the snow-shrouded branches of a nearby tree.

Similar conditions were reported in the northern and eastern suburbs, compounded by extensive power outages.

Kenmore police estimated that between half and three-quarters of the village was without power because of widespread outages. There were numerous trees and wires down, with two tree crews out trying to clear the roads.

Ditto to the north.

The Town of Tonawanda, which announced a travel ban late Thursday night, was hit with widespread power outages, a police officer said.

"The whole city's pretty much without power," was the word from City of Tonawanda Police Headquarters. Further, there have been several fires caused by downed wires.

Amherst police closed a stretch of Harlem Road, from Main Street to Sheridan Drive, because of downed trees. Numerous traffic signals also were out.

Downed trees and utility wires also were reported in Cheektowaga, North Tonawanda and Lancaster.

West Seneca police reported that several vehicles slid off Route 400 between 5 and 8 p.m.

Numerous traffic collisions were reported on the mainline and Niagara section of the New York State Thruway. Four separate crashes were reported on the Niagara section of the Thruway at about 9:30 p.m.

The western part of Genesee County was dealing with heavy snow toppling trees and utility wires. Power outages were affecting Pembroke, Alabama and Oakfield, according to a sheriff's department dispatcher.

To the south, wind and hail were responsible for downed utility lines in the Town of Evans, police reported.

The lake snow is forecast to move north out of the area and switch to rain around the time of the morning commute today.

[Simon]

Thanks Simon. I know how the Snow Belt thing works in the South Towns (having been born in Buffalo and lived in the city for 30 years).

 

I guess what I'm trying determine is where was the 2 feet - if it even happened at all - or is it just exaggeration?

803643[/snapback]

 

"Tom Niziol, also a meteorologist with the weather service, said the northern half of Erie County and southern Niagara and Orleans Counties were among the hardest hit areas......Unnecessary driving was banned in Buffalo, its largest suburb, Amherst, as well as the suburbs of Blasdell, Orchard Park and Hamburg.....Dozens of schools were closed and states of emergency were declared in the City of Tonawanda, and towns of Cheektowaga, Elma, Lancaster, Akron and Depew."

 

That's about as specific as they get in the articles above.

 

Over the next few days this page might give you more detailed info.

Here's a few more options to play with.

[taterhill]

2 foot..tree branches are EVERYWHERE