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New Year's Eve ball drop in Buffalo will go on despite bitter wind chills

Photo by Michael Mroziak
/
WBFO News

Despite forecasts of bitter cold, Buffalo's New Year's Eve ball drop will go on as scheduled Sunday in Roosevelt Square downtown.

The National Weather Service has posted a wind chill advisory for Sunday. Wind chills could drop to 20-below zero.

Dr. Sam Cloud of the Erie County Medical Center urges revelers to dress appropriately. He says the elderly and people who consume excess amounts of alcohol are at risk when it gets this cold.

"The patients I often see who have frostbite or hypothermia are often people who are intoxicated or are elderly," Cloud said. "Be responsible with alcohol use. And if you have elderly neighbors, please check on them during this cold to make sure they're okay."

Two communities -- the villages of Hamburg and Orchard Park -- have canceled their respective outdoor New Year's Eve events because of the frigid cold.

Lake snow continued to fall Saturday well south of Buffalo. A band of lake snow with snow fall rates of two inches an hour was forecast to move inland off Lake Erie and affect the Chautauqua Ridge and Boston Hills.

Areas off Lake Ontario are also expected to receive some lake snow later Saturday and into Sunday.