The long-duration lake-effect snow event along the Great Lakes is entering its fourth day. Nearly 6 feet of snow has already accumulated, and the storm is expected to continue into Tuesday, potentially bringing total snowfall to over 7 feet. FOX Weather’s Mike Seidel is reporting live from Mayville, New York on the latest snowfall.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – A long-duration and historic lake-effect snowstorm that dumped 3-5 feet of snow in Great Lakes communities from Michigan to New York is continuing to blast the region and impact travel as people return to work and school after the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Epic snowfall totals have been reported across the region, including in communities downwind of Lake Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York, and downwind of Lake Ontario in northern New York. An additional foot or more of snow is possible in the most persistent lake bands before things finally begin to wind down on Tuesday.
Western New York has been plagued with at least three feet of snow in some areas, amid lake-effect snow warnings. The National Weather Service office in Buffalo, New York, expected some snowfall totals to top 4 feet by Monday, and in some of the embedded snow bands, thundersnow and waterspouts were reported.
With snow falling between 1 and 4 inches per hour, accumulations overwhelmed efforts to keep roads clear under the heaviest bands. Because of that, officials were forced to close large swaths of Interstate 90 in New York and Pennsylvania to allow crews time to remove snow and ice that quickly piled up.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said late Saturday that some lanes on I-90 were allowed to reopen for passenger vehicles, and the commercial vehicle ban was lifted as of 2 a.m. Monday from Exit 46 to the Pennsylvania state line.
Both Hochul and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro declared states of emergency due to the ongoing lake-effect snowstorm, and officials had urged people to stay home and stay off the roads for safety.
A video shared by FOX Weather Exclusive Storm Tracker Brandon Copic shows crews hard at work trying to clear snow from US 20 in Fairview, Pennsylvania, on Sunday morning.
FOX Weather Storm Tracker Brandon Copic said vehicles were having a tough time trying to maneuver through the snow, and rescues had taken place.
“Honestly, it’s just chaos out here,” Copic said Saturday from Erie County, Pennsylvania. “The trucks are going on roads they shouldn’t be going because the highways are closed, and that just leads to more cars getting stranded. I spent 15 hours Friday night helping people … doing what I can to assist those who are stuck.”
Storm trackers Corey Gerken and Brandon Copic teamed up along a very snowy interstate in Erie County, Pennsylvania to help pull a car stuck along the shoulder. “This was the third car we’ve rescued today so far,” Gerken said.
Copic sent his drone above Pennsylvania’s State Route 5 near the New York border around noon Saturday to find an epic gridlock of dozens of vehicles stuck in the snow.
“The trucks that are jackknifed up the road is what caused the gridlock,” Copic said, estimating that most of the vehicles have been stranded there since Friday.
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Winter weather alerts remain in effect across the region, including Lake-Effect Snow Warnings from Cleveland to southwestern New York that will remain in effect until at least Tuesday morning.
Winter Weather Advisories also remain in effect for parts of central New York, including the Syracuse metro, where several waves of lake-effect snow will impact the area through Tuesday afternoon.
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Lake Erie snow to continue Monday
The FOX Forecast Center said the primary band of snow coming off Lake Erie will sink back to the south on Monday, and the main challenge for forecasters is trying to forecast exactly where the heaviest snow will fall and how far inland it will extend.
The snow band is expected to remain close to the southern lakeshore temporarily, but a shift to northwesterly winds will likely push it farther inland.
Some areas could pick up an additional foot or more of snow, with the highest totals likely occurring from parts of Erie County, Pennsylvania, through Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties in southwestern New York.
The city of Erie, Pennsylvania, already got buried on Friday when it reported its snowiest day on record with a whopping 22.6 inches of snow before storm totals eclipsed 2 feet by Saturday.
Travel could again become dangerous on major roads and highways across the region, including I-90, I-86 and I-79, which could become nearly impassable. In the heaviest snow bands, visibility could drop to less than a quarter-mile, and strong winds could blow snow that has already fallen.
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Lake Ontario also impacted
The FOX Forecast Center said the intense band of snow coming off Lake Ontario has weakened and shifted south after dumping nearly 5 feet of snow southeast of Watertown, New York, in the town of Copenhagen.
The snow threat there has now ended, and as the winds shift more northwesterly, the attention will change to new areas farther south of Lake Ontario.
The focus will be on a stretch of Interstate 90 from Rochester to Syracuse, where snow bands could produce snowfall rates of 1-2 inches an hour.
That could make travel treacherous on that stretch of I-90, which hasn’t seen too many issues during this lake-effect snowstorm.
Lake Superior, Lake Michigan communities could see whiteout conditions
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The FOX Forecast Center said multiple bands of lake-effect snow will continue well into Tuesday in western and northern Michigan across areas downwind of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
The bands aren’t expected to contain snowfall rates as high as what has been seen in Pennsylvania and New York but will still be heavy enough to lead to near-whiteout conditions and dangerous travel.
Cities like Gaylord, Michigan, have already seen historic snow totals. The 24.8 inches that fell in Gaylord on Friday alone vaulted Nov. 29 to the city’s snowiest calendar day on record.
But the FOX Forecast Center said the main difference on Monday will be the shift in winds. The winds will have a more northerly component, which forecasters said will make the bands of snow coming off Lake Superior the most intense.