Heavy Snow in New York, March 4 to 6, 2001

Name: Heavy Snow in New York, March 4 to 6, 2001
Start: 2001-03-04T23:53
End: 2001-03-06T07:10
Location: New York

March 4 to 6, 2001 · NWS BUF · 12 events in 12 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 12 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1.5 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 12

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS BUF wrote it up.

A complex low pressure system that plagued the Northeast brought significant snowfall to western and central New York. The snow in western New York came in two phases from Sunday night to early Monday morning (4th-5th) and again Monday night to Tuesday morning (5th-6th). The heaviest snow fell during the first period and was associated with upper level energy, while the second snow period resulted from the western fringe of a large coastal storm south of New England. East of Lake Ontario, the snow was nearly continuous from late Monday night through Tuesday morning (4th-6th). Snowfall totals for the 48-hour event were generally between 12-18" from the Genesee Valley eastward and 8-12" across far western New York. Specific storm totals reported...Niagara county: 9" North Tonawanda and Niagara Falls and 7" Youngstown; Erie county: 12" Wales, 11" Colden; 10" Boston and Buffalo; 9" Orchard Park, Lancaster and Amherst, and 8" Tonawanda, Alden and Grand Island; Orleans county: 11" Medina and 10" Lyndonville; Genesee county: 10" Pavilion and 9" Batavia; Wyoming county: 13" Portageville, 10" Warsaw, and 9" Bennington; Chautauqua county: 14" Sherman, 12" Frewsburg and Sinclairville, 10" Jamestown and 7" Silver Creek; Cattaraugus county: 14" Perrysburg, 13" Olean and Salamanca; 12" Franklinville and Little Valley, and 9" New Albion; Allegany county: 15" Angelica and Friendship, 14" Alfred, 12" Wellsville and Whitesville; Monroe county: 19" Mendon; 17" Greece, 16" Webster, 15" Honeoye Falls, 14" Penfield and Perinton and 10" Rochester; Livingston county: 19" Conesus, 16" Mount Morris, 14" Nunda and Dansville, 11" Avon; Ontario county: 13" Honeoye Lake and 12" Geneva; Wayne county: 21" Sodus, 14" Ontario, and 13" Newark and Palmyra; Cayuga county: 18" Fair Haven; Oswego county: 19" West Monroe; 16" Fulton, and 15" Oswego; Jefferson county: 9" Adams, and 8" Chaumont and Watertown; and Lewis county: 16" Castorland, 12" Lowville, 11" North Osceola, 9" and Highmarket.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Buffalo, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 4, 9:15 PM EST, 2 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 4, 9:15 PM EST, 2 hours 38 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
915 PM EST SUN MAR 4 2001

WILL UPDATE SEVERAL ZONES TO UP OVERNIGHT SNOWFALL TOTALS...

SNOW STREAMED NNE ACROSS MOST OF WRN NY THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUES
THIS EVENING...WITH HEAVIER ACTIVITY ALONG INVERTED TROF AND 700 MB
BOUNDARY EXTENDING FROM WRN PA TO ALLEG CO TO GENESEE VALLEY. ALREADY
REPORTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES FROM SRN LIVINGSTON AND ALLEG COS. ROC AREA
HAS 2 TO 3 AS OF 9 PM...BUF AROUND 1 INCH. LATEST SPC DISC HIGHLITES
CNTRL SRN TIER NEXT FEW HOURS BUT RADAR STILL INDICATES HEAVIER SNOW
LIFTING NORTHWARD ACROSS WRN SRN TIER AND WILL MOVE ACROSS ALL OF WRN
NY TILL ABOUT 07 OR 08Z. INVERTED TROF HANGS ACROSS AREA TILL MON AM
SO AM CONCERNED THAT EVEN THESE REVISED AMOUNTS MAY STILL BE A BIT
LOW.

WLL THEREFORE UP OVERNIGHT AMOUNTS TO 6-10 RANGE ALLEG/CATT COS AND
4-8 FROM WYO CO NE ACROSS FINGER LAKES TO ROC AREA. WILL EDGE OSW CO
UP TO 2-4 AND JEFF/LEWIS TO 1-3. WILL HOLD ONTO 2-4 FAR WEST.

WILL MAKE NO CHANGES TO FUTURE PERIODS AT THIS TIME. IT DOES APPEAR
THAT TONIGHT WILL FEATURE HEAVIEST SNOWS FOR FAR WEST...AND MON NT
FOR EASTERN ZONES...BUT WARNINGS WILL BE CONTINUED THROUGH MON NT.
WLL INCLUDE TONIGHT IN ERN ZONES IN WRNG UPDATE.

ZONES WILL BE REARRANGED TO REFLECT NEW TOTALS WITH HEADERS NOTING
TOTAL STORM ACCUMS.

SEE LATEST BUFPNSBUF FOR UPDATED SNOWFALL TOTALS.

THAT SIT FROM THE SNOWY BUF. NEW ZONES BY 930.
TAKE IT EASY.

.BUF...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT
       ALL ZONES. NYZ001>008-010>014-019>021

MCLAUGHLIN

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

12 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Allegany

When: March 4, 11:53 PM EST
Where: Allegany forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.257, -78.028 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Cattaraugus

When: March 5, 12:05 AM EST
Where: Cattaraugus forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.249, -78.679 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Monroe

When: March 5, 6:40 AM EST
Where: Monroe forecast zone
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.165, -77.636 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Wyoming

When: March 5, 6:55 AM EST
Where: Wyoming forecast zone
Property damage: $75,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.702, -78.224 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Genesee

When: March 5, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Genesee forecast zone
Property damage: $75,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.001, -78.194 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Erie

When: March 5, 8:15 AM EST
Where: Erie forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.758, -78.780 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Wayne

When: March 5, 8:55 AM EST
Where: Wayne forecast zone
Property damage: $150,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.066, -76.978 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Ontario

When: March 5, 9:00 AM EST
Where: Ontario forecast zone
Property damage: $150,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.853, -77.300 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Lewis

When: March 5, 9:30 AM EST
Where: Lewis forecast zone
Property damage: $150,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.785, -75.449 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Chautauqua

When: March 5, 10:05 AM EST
Where: Chautauqua forecast zone
Property damage: $75,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.303, -79.406 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Oswego

When: March 5, 3:15 PM EST
Where: Oswego forecast zone
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.464, -76.209 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Northern Cayuga

When: March 6, 7:10 AM EST
Where: Northern Cayuga forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.010, -76.574 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in New York in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in New York, March 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5235843, 5235844, 5235845, 5235846, 5235847, 5235848, 5235849, 5235850, 5235851, 5235852, 5235853, 5235854.