The first snow event of the year for much of the Western New York region started yesterday with the southern tier getting slammed with lake effect snow for much of the afternoon into the evening.
The snow band will now move a ways northward hitting Hamburg, Orchard Park, and East Aurora as the band will stay put there for much of the day and into tomorrow until moving back south. National Weather Service Meteorologist David Thomas said poor conditions will move into those municipalities as the band moves Northward.
“As the band does move northward, the poor conditions will accompany it. So areas like Hamburg, Orchard Park, East Aurora, which are not too bad right now, will eventually become [poor with] visibility, heavy snow, watching the snow pile up and accumulate," said Thomas. "As we get towards later afternoon, the band will be getting into the next row of towns there, into the West Seneca area, rural, and out towards the Bennington area of Wyoming county. And we'll be watching the poor visibility, poor travel conditions, and snowfall increasing throughout the day.”
Thomas also mentioned that the snow accumulation rates they expect at 1-2 inches a hour should make the cleanup effort more than manageable.
“Yeah, the snowfall rates, typically around one, two inches an hour are okay for being plowed off the roads," he said. "But as we get to the heavier snowfall rates, those two, three inches. Now, our snowfall rates make it hard for roads to stay clear, and that makes it for the difficult travel with a deep, covered snow, roads.”
Thomas mentioned that the band will continue to move slightly northward as the day goes on affecting regions as far north as the Buffalo Airport, mentioning the nearby areas can receive close to a half of a foot of snow.
Full conversation can be heard above in the embedded link.