Lake-Effect Snow in New York, January 4 to 8, 2017

This lake effect snow event was a long duration, high impact event; one that snarled traffic across the Buffalo Southtowns Thursday evening and ultimately produced three to four feet of snow east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Multi band structured lake effect snow began east of Lake Erie and Ontario through the afternoon hours of Wednesday, January 4th. Embedded within these bands were several stronger bands, which brought very narrow stripes of heavy snow east of the lakes, before the winds began to veer, sending snows southward overnight across the Ski Country and the Southern Tier east of Lake Erie, and across the southern Tug Hill east of Lake Ontario. Backing winds began to lift a plume of lake effect snow from over the Southern Tier and Ski Country early Thursday morning towards the far southern towns of Buffalo by late morning Thursday. Snowfall rates began to increase to 3 inches per hour along and just inland from the Lake Erie shoreline early Thursday afternoon. By mid to late afternoon on Thursday the band of snow was oriented along the long axis of Lake Erie, where added low level convergence and residence time over the lake strengthened the band of snow to 4 to 5 inches per hour over an area from Lake View to Orchard Park on the south side of the band, and Blasdell and West Seneca on the north side of the band. This heavy snowfall, combined with the late afternoon rush hour of people leaving work and schools, brought traffic to a standstill over the Buffalo Southtowns. The snow accumulated so quickly that plows were unable to keep up with the clearing of the snow, which led to people abandoning their cars on the Thruway and local roads, evening commutes extending to 6 hours or more, and school busses returning back to school, unable to deliver children to their homes. This snow band reached its northern extent from the City of Buffalo and near the southern end of the airport before starting to slide southward through the late evening and overnight hours. Snowfall rates were not as strong later in the evening, which allowed the plows to begin the dig-out from an event that dropped over two-feet of fresh snow over portions of the Buffalo Southtowns in only 6 to 8 hours. Snowfall decreased rapidly farther inland, with just several inches falling over far northeastern Erie County, and into Genesee and Livingston Counties. East of Lake Ontario Thursday, the snow band remained anchored over northern and central Jefferson and northern Lewis Counties. The low level convergent wind was so strong that the upstream shortwave nudge the band only slightly northward, but still added additional low level moisture that brought snowfall rates of 4 inches per hour to Watertown, Fort Drum and other central Jefferson County communities. Later Thursday night, and early Friday morning the lake effect snow band dropped back south towards the Tug Hill region, bringing an additional half to one foot of snow through the night. The snow band transitioned into an anticyclonic structure towards Friday morning, where heavy lake effect snow in northern Oswego County quickly brought the event totals up towards 2 feet of snow. Lake effect snows continued, somewhat disorganized through Friday Night. On Saturday morning these lake bands formed mesolows on the east side of both lakes. As for Lake Erie, Saturday morning the band was hugging the shoreline from about Ripley to Angola. This made for hazardous travel conditions along the I-90 Thruway in this corridor, with all commercial traffic banned for much of the day. By Saturday afternoon and evening, the band pushed inland across northern Chautauqua, northern Cattaraugus and southern Erie counties. Saturday night the band reoriented across the western Southern Tier on the westerly flow, producing a multi-banded structure with upslope enhancement over the Chautauqua Ridge and Boston Hills. On Lake Ontario Saturday, a mesolow developed on the east end of the lake, with a tea kettle band in place across the center of the lake. Initially, snow on the south side of the mesolow was impacting the shoreline of northern Cayuga and Oswego County, near the city of Oswego. By late morning Saturday, the mesolow moved farther offshore bringing a break in the snowfall east of Lake Ontario until the afternoon. The center of the mesolow made landfall across central Oswego County, with the heaviest snow concentrated on the south side of the low, as is typically the case. During the course of the evening, the lingering enhanced area of convergence on the south side of the mesolow focused a band of heavy snow that slowly moved from northern Cayuga County into central Oswego County. Snowfall rates were observed at about 4 inches per hour in the heaviest part of the snow band. Overnight, a secondary mesolow tracked into northern Jefferson County bringing a burst of snow across Jefferson county and central Lewis county, although accumulations from this were fairly minor as the snow lost intensity away from the lake. Snowfall amounted to about a foot and half overnight in that most persistent band, with Oswego, Mexico and north of Fulton topping the list of reports. On Sunday, lake effect bands reoriented on a northwesterly flow. Lake effect snow began to diminish in intensity. |Off Lake Erie, specific snowfall reports included: 46 inches at Perrysburg, 45 inches at Colden, 42 inches at Forestville, 33 inches at Springville, 28 inches at Blasdell, 27 inches at Glenwood, 26 inches at West Seneca and Boston, 24 inches at East Concord, 23 inches at Portland, West Seneca and Hamburg, 21 inches at Dunkirk and Orchard Park, 20 inches at Fredonia, 19 inches at Angola and Warsaw, 18 inches at Little Valley, East Aurora and Marilla, 17 inches at Ripley, 16 inches at Dayton, Silver Creek and New Albion, 14 inches at Attica and Wyoming,13 inches at Lackawanna, 12 inches at Kennedy and Warsaw, 11 inches at Franklinville, and 10 inches at Randolph. Off Lake Ontario, specific snowfall reports included: 45 inches at Pulaski, 38 inches at Mannsville, 37 inches at Hooker, 34 inches at Croghan, 33 inches at Lacona, 31 inches at Watertown, 29 inches at Copenhagen, 28 inches at Redfield, 27 inches at Carthage, 22 inches at West Carthage, 21 inches at Natural Bridge, 20 inches at Beaver Falls, 18 inches at Fulton, 17 inches at Harrisville and Mexico, 16 inches at Oswego, 15 inches at Scriba, 13 inches at Osceola, Fulton and Minetto, and 11 inches at Lowville.