A powerful cold front extending south out of Canada crossed the region on the afternoon of February 28th, causing temperatures to plunge to the teens and 20s through the rest of the day. Strong to damaging winds along and behind the cold front caused numerous trees and wires to be downed.
Every event with a place to put it; 9 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 BUF wrote it up.
A powerful cold front extending south out of Canada crossed the region on the afternoon of February 28th, causing temperatures to plunge to the teens and 20s through the rest of the day. Strong to damaging winds along and behind the cold front caused numerous trees and wires to be downed. Additionally, several reports of 50 knot winds or greater occurred with this event. A combination of the cooling temperatures aloft, a trough crossing the region and a northwest flow behind the front caused lake effect snow to develop southeast of Lake Ontario, primarily over Wayne and Northern Cayuga counties where over a foot of snow fell for areas within the most persistent snow band.
Notable winds gusts for this event includes: 63 mph in Oswego, 62 mph in Clifton Springs, 59 mph in Pultneyville, Watertown Airport and Glenfield. Damage during this event includes numerous trees and wires down across the warned areas which included all forecast zone from Monroe and Ontario counties eastward. A large tree also fell onto a house in Fairport.
Notable snowfall amounts with this event includes: 15.0 inches in Cato, 13.0 inches in South Butler and 12.0 inches in Sodus.
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 Feb 28, 1:00 PM EST, 1 hour earlier.
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html><!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html><!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html><!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 high wind, 2 lake-effect snow. Local standard time, as filed.
A large tree blown over onto a house in Fairport, siding blown off a house in Webster and several trees and wires downed in Rochester.
Several trees and wires down across the county, including the City of Canandaigua, Phelps and Victor.
Several trees and wires down across the county, including Sodus, Newark, Savannah and Wolcott.
Several trees and wires down across the county.
Several trees and wires down across the county including in Oswego, Fulton and Altmar.
Trees and wires down in Carthage. Wind gust of 64 mph at Carthage High School.
Trees and wires down in Lowville and West Leyden.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New York in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, February 2024
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1163980, 1163981, 1163982, 1163983, 1163984, 1163985, 1163986, 1163978, 1163979.