‘Extreme’ snowstorm plunges US into deep freeze

A powerful snowstorm has swept across western New York, creating snow drifts as high as houses, trapping people in their homes and forcing hundreds of motorists to abandon their cars on roadways that were quickly buried in the blizzard-like conditions.

As much of the nation was plunged into a deep freeze, the sudden rush of cold air from the north set the perfect conditions for the moisture coming off the Great Lakes to create sprawling snow bands, the most ferocious of which settled over the towns and communities just south of Buffalo on Tuesday.

At least four people in that region died as a result of the weather, according to The Associated Press. Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard to help find and rescue anyone stranded in the storm. Even in an area used to dealing with brutal winter storms, officials in and around Buffalo said they were struggling with the storm. Mayor Byron Brown of Buffalo said that clearing roads south of the city has been “slow going” and that “there is a long way to go” before the situation was under control. “Please do not be fooled by the beautiful sunshine,” he said. “There is still tremendous amounts of snow on the ground in south Buffalo.” In a reflection of how fast the storm swept over the region, players from the Niagara University women’s basketball team became stuck early Tuesday and were forced to wait more than 24 hours on the team bus until state troopers could rescue them.

The “lake effect”

The heavy snowfall and local travel bans forced Amtrak to suspend service in the region until at least Wednesday afternoon. As of late Tuesday night, more than 5 feet had fallen in towns like Lancaster and Gardenville and, since snow kept falling overnight, it was likely that there could be more than 6 feet of snow in some places. "This is a very extreme event," said Shawn Smith, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Buffalo. "It basically crippled all the towns south of Buffalo." But unlike a typical winter storm, the snow caused by the "lake effect" was not felt equally across the region. The divide was so stark that someone on a tall building in downtown Buffalo had clear skies overhead but could see a menacing gray wall of moisture and snow being swept up off the lake and driven south.

On Wednesday, there was only a dusting of snow in the city. But a few miles away, in the town of Evans, they were comparing the storm to the infamous Blizzard of ‘77, one of the deadliest snowfalls ever recorded in the region. Keith Dash, the town supervisor, said the snowfall began around 10 p.m. Monday. By 5:30 a.m., it was clear that school needed to be canceled. “We are at anywhere from 30 to 45 inches, depending on what side of town you’re in,” Dash said Tuesday night, as the snow continued to pile up. “Plus, there’s been blowing and drifting all day long.” He said the roads were a major concern. “We have a lot of stuck vehicles,” he said. “We have over 100 people who are still stuck. I have never, ever seen this much snow at one time.”

Nicole Tubiolo, 35, a web project manager at First Niagara Bank who lives in a condominium in Amherst, said she had not had much snow. But she said that her mother, in nearby Lancaster, had never seen the snow come so fast and was stuck in her home. "She said, 'There's no way I'm getting out in this,'" Tubiolo said. The snow forced the closing of a 132-mile stretch of the New York State Thruway on Tuesday, but highway officials said that much of the road had been reopened Wednesday, even as they worked to remove cars abandoned on the side of the road.

Residents were expected to get a brief respite from the snow Wednesday, but the forecast calls for another 12 to 24 inches of snow to fall Thursday. In Lancaster, where more than 60 inches of snow fell in less than 24 hours, the local streets looked like a stage set for a dystopian movie, where snow has claimed dominion over mankind.

People stranded

Paige Marki, 18, who works at a local gas station, was struggling Wednesday to clear more than 4 feet of snow piled on her car. She recalled the scene around town at the height of the storm. “There were semis everywhere, at least six, parked sideways, parked on the side of the road, blocking the road, cars blocking the road, people coming out of their cars, people were trapped in their cars,” Marki said. “This one guy told me he called the police but they were so backed up he had no idea when they were coming. He called them at 7 in the morning” on Tuesday, she said. “By that time it was 2 in the afternoon.”

Marki said she saw at least 20 people stranded at the gas station. “When we were walking back it was like hell,” she said. “It was terrible. You couldn’t see a thing in front of you. We just walked with our heads down the whole time.” As residents upstate started to dig out, the cold temperatures across the country were causing people to hunker down. In New York City, record low temperatures were recorded at the area airports, and it was not expected to warm up until the weekend.

New York Times