A pair of cold fronts crossed the area late on December 1st and during the morning of the 2nd. This ushered in arctic air and set up a west wind across the warm waters of Lake Ontario.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS BGM wrote it up.
A pair of cold fronts crossed the area late on December 1st and during the morning of the 2nd. This ushered in arctic air and set up a west wind across the warm waters of Lake Ontario. Lake effect snow started in northern Oneida County late in the morning of December 2nd. The heavy snow and sustained winds of 15 to 25 mph created blowing and drifting snow, and whiteout conditions. Snowfall rates in the west to east band were 1 to 2 inches an hour. The band shifted south into northern Onondaga County, northern Madison County, and central and southern Oneida County. The band was nearly stationary for much of the evening of the 2nd until early afternoon on the 3rd. At this time, it started shifting slowly north to be out of Onondaga and Madison Counties. The band lifted north out of Oneida County in the evening. Much of extreme northern Onondaga, northern Madison and most of Oneida County received 10 to 20 inches of snow. Some locations in northern Oneida County got close to 30 inches. Some towns and cities affected were North Syracuse, Cicero, Clay, Chittenango, Canastota, Oneida, Kirkland, Westmoreland, Holland Patent, Camden, Point Rock, Stokes Hill, Boonville.
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 Binghamton, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 1, 6:53 PM EST, 17 hours 7 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 lake-effect snow. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New York in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, December 2005
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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5488455, 5488457, 5488454, 5488456.