Lake effect snow continues to bury Buffalo

The snow continued in western New York Wednesday night.

The thick blanket of white that has descended on the area is due to something called lake effect snow.

It’s one for the record books. And when it comes to snow in Buffalo, that’s some impressive reading. The numbers are simply staggering.

According to Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, “more than 230 truck loads removed from south Buffalo. Over 5000 tons of snow.”

Over the last few days, the snow in western New York has been measured in feet instead of inches and the governor has declared a state of emergency.

“It’s going to get worse in some way before it gets better,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Even people used to seeing heavy snow were not prepared for this.

According to Karoll Markiewicz, the snow is “unprecedented. We’re going to make history. But I don’t care, it’s too much.”

Tom Magnuson from the National Weather Service office in Pueblo tells us what’s been happening with the weather.

“The cold air that was developing across northern Canada was allowed to come down into the United States,” he said.

And that cold air is what’s producing all of the snow in western New York. So how does lake effect snow occur?

When cold, dry air from Canada flows over the relatively warm Great Lakes it picks up the moisture and forms clouds. When those clouds come on shore they dump all of that moisture in the form of snow.

And if there are hills in the way, that lifts the clouds further and the snow gets really heavy.

The field at Ralph Wilson Stadium may no longer in sight, but the end of this storm is.

But until the lake freezes over, there will be more chances for heavy snow to bury Buffalo again.

According to Magnuson, the snow itself is not unusual even if the timing of the snow is.

“We get these kind of patterns in the wintertime,” he said.

The people in Buffalo know that they’ll be shoveling again and again this winter.

In an average winter, Buffalo receives around 85 inches of snow. Some parts of the city have gotten almost that much in the last three days.