by The first major snowstorm of the season threatens to bury New York towns along Lakes Erie and Ontario during a hectic holiday travel and shopping weekend.
An outbreak of cold air in the Arctic will spread south and east, bringing “dangerous wind chills” to the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, the National Weather Service said Saturday, while heavy snow due to lake travel ” very difficult to impossible”. next week.
“Travel will be extremely difficult and dangerous this weekend, especially in areas where several feet of snow could accumulate very quickly,” the National Weather Service said Saturday.
CBS New York meteorologist John Elliott said “very intense snow” will hit communities along the Great Lakes, Plans and Midwest regions.
Cara Anna / AP
Cold weather warnings were issued for parts of North Dakota on Saturday and high pressure from central Canada will move south into the Northern Plains on Monday. A freeze warning will be issued for the southeastern central Gulf Coast states, the weather service said.
A portion of Interstate 90 in Pennsylvania was closed Saturday, as were the westbound lanes of the New York Thruway heading into Pennsylvania. Parts of New York, Ohio and Michigan have already received nearly two feet of snow, and the northwestern tip of Pennsylvania has received about two feet of snow.
Roads in parts of northwestern Pennsylvania became so impassable early Saturday that dozens of people took refuge in the lobby and hallways of a fully booked Holiday Inn hotel near I-90. Jeremiah Weatherley, an employee at the hotel, said dozens of people came inside as the snow piled up, with workers opening the hotel’s conference room and giving people blankets so they could sleep on the floor.
“It was hard to deal with, but we had no choice,” he said. “They just showed up and we don’t want to turn people away.”
Light to moderate snow was expected Saturday from the middle Mississippi Valley to the central Appalachians, with similar snow conditions across parts of the Northern Plains and upper Mississippi Valley and central Appalachians on Sunday, the weather service said.
In Michigan, heavy snow with lake effects is expected to continue into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service in Gaylord. Some parts of the Upper Peninsula could see as much as three feet of snow Sunday night through Monday, National Weather Service meteorologist Lily Chapman said.
New York State forecasters warned that four to six feet of blowing snow could fall in Watertown and other areas east of Lake Ontario through Monday.
National Weather Service
After an unusually mild fall, as much as 20 to 30 feet of snow was possible along Lake Erie and south of Buffalo from lake effect bands that were notorious for pounding the region at snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour. Lake effect snow forms when warm, moist air rising from a body of water mixes with cold, dry air overhead.
“The lake is 50 degrees. We’re about six degrees above where we should be this time of year, which is why we’re seeing these severe lake effect events,” Erie County Public Works Commissioner William Geary said. “In terms of the outlook for the next two weeks into December, we’ll probably see more.”
Cara Anna / AP
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for affected counties, allowing government agencies to mobilize resources. Rapidly deteriorating conditions caused closures along Interstate 90 on Friday, and tandem and commercial vehicles were banned on Interstate 86 in western New York and much of U.S. Route 219 beginning Friday afternoon.
“There are a significant number of vehicles going off the road on 219 right now,” Gregory Butcher, Erie County deputy director for preparedness and homeland security, said during an afternoon briefing.
ATVs and snowmobiles were placed throughout the county to assist first responders if needed, Butcher said.
The Buffalo Bills called for volunteers to possibly shovel snow at Highmark Stadium, where more than two feet of snow was possible before Sunday night’s game against the San Francisco 49ers.
“It’s going to be slow, there’s no doubt about that,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said, adding that the heaviest snow is expected to be over by kickoff.
Lake effect snow also blanketed parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a system expected to last through the weekend. The area was covered in snow by Friday afternoon, with more than a foot of snow in some places.
“We have a westerly, northwesterly flow regime and a cold air mass over the UP,” said Chapman of the National Weather Service. “So it’s a pretty good setup for this extended lake effect snowfall event.”
Gusty winds, especially near the Great Lakes, have affected visibility in Michigan and Chapman urged caution on the roads.
Joe DeLizio, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Gaylord, said visibility on the roads was poor but that he had not been notified of any major accidents so far.
“I haven’t heard much about any issues, but obviously traveling is quite difficult,” DeLizio said.
