Just talked to Big E and he asked that I tell t5he forum that most of us in WNY are alive and able to sit up and take nourishment. I saw on the new today that an are 15 miles east of Buffalo has gotten 84" (yes 7') since the storm hit on Monday! Many other areas have gotten between 4' and 6'. There is so much snow that there is no room left along side of the streets for the plows to push it up. Plow drivers tried to push it back but were blowing out windows in stores. We have had down state, neighboring states and the National Guard bring in equipment to help remove the snow.
The municipalities are hauling snow in dump trucks to any available large parking lots. I live about 25 miles southwest of Buffalo and we only have about 3' of snow. The snow making machine (lake effect winds) will hopefully stop tonight or tomorrow. I just heard on the weather that by Monday we will be having temperatures in the 50's and rain. That is not good for many of the buildings. We have had at least 2 roof collapses because of heavy snow.
Truthfully, I am not complaining but this info is something Big E thought you might like to hear.
You forgot to tell the best part.
No beer and no gas. Oh I hate when that happens. :-O
Thanks for the update. I really appreciate hearing these news accounts first hand from our brothers in arms.
Those who have never lived next to a large body of water have no concept of what the term "lake effect" really means relative to snowfall. Those who do say things like "we only have about 3' of snow" to indicate how lucky they have been. My home was less than a mile from Lake Michigan when we had roughly 30" of snow accumulation on the level on Thanksgiving day one year. That night a 19" blizzard hit. About 36 hours later everything was back to business as usual for most, just not those tucked back in subdivisions with only one way out. Parking in a completely bare parking lot at 8:00 a.m. and leaving at 10:00 a.m. with over 15" of newfallen snow making the departure quite challenging is something only the young and foolish should have to endure.
Unless you have lived in a lake effect area and have seen 3" to 5" of snow per hour falling you can not believe how hard a snowfall that is. Then add on top of the 30 to 40+ mph winds. I was working for the County Highway during the Blizzard of 77 along Lake Erie.
At that time only 1.5' of snow fell but there was a 3' snow pack on Lake Erie. The winds that hit that day were over 70 mph. It picked up the 3' of snow and deposited it in 15' to 20' drifts in Buffalo and the surrounding communities.
The temperature went to 0º and the snow turned into a rock like consistency. When you tried to plow it it was like hitting a pile of sand. Most of the trucks that the county used to remove the snow had broken windows from the twisting of the truck frames when hitting drifts. I worked 208 hours in a 2 week stretch during that storm. When I had the chance i left the highway and went to work at the landfill.
Used to be a rash of babies born, 9 months after such an event. Due to modern ideas, such is not such an affair, (no pun intended) but, Doctors, and hospitals used to gear up, for the "Ripple Effect", after a big storm...
Carry on your regularly scheduled program....
N
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> "and we only have about 3' of snow."
I know it's serious up there but I find that funny!
James
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3' pf snow is just a little inconvenience. There is still room to plow it off the streets. However, 6' to 7' is more that the city and towns can handle. Now it has to be loaded and hauled to a dump site.
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Here's to hoping it doesn't all melt at once.
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They have forecasted 50º to 60º t4emperatures on Monday and Tuesday with rain. People are not worried so much of flooding, it is the weight of the snow and water on roofs. There has been 4 area commercial building that have collapsed so far and the buildings were destroyed. So far no injuries associated with these collapses.
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Really? I heard they are blaming 13 deaths on this.
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Yup! most are cardiac.
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Believe me, that is a minor amount of snow in much of the frozen tundra section of the U.S. Imagine a manufacturing building that covers from two to five acres and has sidewalls 18 to 20 feet high. Now try to imagine driving past it and you cannot see it for all of the snow stacked up between you and the building sidewall. Shopping mall parking lots look like ski slopes by mid-November and the last bit of snow in that pile finally melts about May 1.
On the plus side, the Buffalo Sabres are probably enjoying not being under the spotlight for a while...
They are in the spotlite now for winning 3 in a row!
