‘It just keeps coming and coming’: Lake-effect snow will dump another foot or two of snow in parts of the US
(CNN) — Post-Thanksgiving travel will be treacherous in parts of the Great Lakes region on Sunday due to several feet of lake-effect snow, while biting cold temperatures sweep across a large swath of the United States.
More than two million people downwind of the great lakes are other winter weather warnings. Off Lakes Superior and Michigan, winter storm warnings and posted. And off Lakes Erie and Ontario, lake-effect snow warnings are in place, with heavy snow already reported this weekend across parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York state.
Most significantly, nearly four feet of snow fell on parts of western New York the last few days, according to the Weather Prediction Center. Saybrook, Ohio, has taken the top prize with 49.2” of snow so far.
The lake-effect warnings in most of western New York are set to expire Sunday night through Monday, but have been extended in northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania until Tuesday morning.
The cold will persist, as nearly 70% of the continental US will feel the chill of temperatures below 32 degrees over the next few days. Some cities, including New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Cincinnati, will experience below-average temperatures for the entire week.
Homeowners in Erie, Pennsylvania, shoveled large piles of snow and used snowblowers to clear the mounds from their driveways and walkways Saturday, according to footage from CNN affiliate WICU.
“Yesterday, I shoveled for four hours and today I’ve been here for about an hour,” Erie resident and native Richard Korytowski told WICU as he dug out his driveway.
“I expected to shovel,” he said, “but not this much.”
Lake-effect snow occurs when cold, wind-driven air flows across a not-so-cold lake – in this case, the Great Lakes, where the water is at a record warmth.
In Erie, Pennsylvania, treacherous conditions on Sunday caused some of the city’s plow drivers to get stuck while removing snow, city officials said on Facebook.
Eleven New York counties across western and central New York are under a state of emergency order Gov. Kathy Hochul issued Friday. The declaration includes Erie County, where Amherst officials on Saturday issued a code blue alert, inviting anyone in need of shelter from the extreme cold to call for help.
“My administration is working around the clock to respond to the snowstorm in Western New York and the North Country,” Hochul said on X Saturday. “Our state agencies and over 100 National Guard members are on the ground to support storm operations.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also called in his state’s National Guard on Saturday to assist stranded motorists and ensure emergency responders can reach anyone trapped, he said on X.
Pennsylvania State Police responded to nearly 200 road incidents over a 24-hour period on Friday and Saturday, according to Shapiro’s office.
The winter weather comes just as millions of Thanksgiving revelers across the country begin to travel home. But throughout the affected region, postholiday travel will be “very difficult to impossible” for some motorists, with forecasters urging people to stay off the roads as whiteout conditions make driving “treacherous and potentially dangerous,” according to the National Weather Service office in Buffalo, New York.
The outbreak of Arctic chill diving southward out of Canada will cause temperatures in much of the eastern half of the US to fall as much as 15 degrees to 25 degrees below average through the middle of next week, forecasters say.
“High temperatures (are) expected to be 10 to 20 degrees below average Sunday and Monday from the Northern Plains into the Ohio Valley, with the 10 to 20 degree below-average temperatures spreading farther southeast along much of the east coast by Monday,” according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
Lake-effect snow to dump another foot or two of snow
Through Monday, an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow could fall in parts of Pennsylvania, northern Ohio and western New York. Watertown, New York, could receive an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow, according to CNN meteorologists.
“The heaviest snow totals are expected downwind of lakes Erie and Ontario, affecting areas from northeast Ohio, far northwest Pennsylvania, western New York state and portions of northwest New York state,” according to the Weather Prediction Center.
North East, Pennsylvania, a borough in Erie County, recorded just over 42 inches of snow between Thursday night and Saturday afternoon while Erie, Pennsylvania, received 31 inches. The New York towns of Barnes Corners and Copenhagen saw 46 inches of snow by Sunday morning, according to the weather service.
In Ashtabula County, Ohio, resident Ashley Drew shared footage of a Conneaut home vanishing into a blanket of heavy snow Saturday, with its blue front door just partially visibly as snow continued to fall.
Parts of the county, which sits on Lake Erie, have seen about 40 inches of snowfall – and it could see between 12 and 21 inches more through Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
Kathy Davis, a resident of Tug Hill in northern New York, described Saturday’s heavy snow as a “good old-fashioned winter,” in a video clip she shared with CNN affiliate WWNY.
“This is what I remember as a kid,” Davis said, according to WWNY. “It just keeps coming and coming.”
Forecasters warn of difficult travel, whiteout conditions
Matt Eisert, 58, of Columbus, Ohio, said he was visiting his father in Erie, Pennsylvania, for Thanksgiving when his parents’ home became surrounded by heavy snow.
The real estate agent still plans to return to Columbus sometime Sunday on a journey for which he’s well-prepared.
“I have blankets in the car, water, some protein bars. I always stock up and have a little road survival kit in my car,” Eisert said.
Highway traffic cameras showed snowy conditions over the highway in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York on Saturday.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has closed several roads in Erie County, while officials continue cleanup efforts. The department has also reduced the speed limit to 45 miles per hour on parts of I-86 and I-90 in Erie County, while other roadways remain closed to certain types of vehicles, including school buses, tractors and motorcycles.
“Stay home, stay in place, stay safe. Only travel when necessary,” Erie County Executive Brenton Davis said at a news conference Sunday, where he described the storm as a “snowmageddon event.”
Davis praised the coordination between local and state agencies, including the Pennsylvania National Guard, which is on hand to assist stranded motorists, essential workers and anyone who needs to be taken to a warming shelter.
In Ohio, several roadways are closed due to debris, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation, and officials are urging drivers to move carefully on slippery, snowy roads.
The Ohio Department of Transportation in Akron said 25 crew members worked around the clock in Ashtabula County, where commissioners issued a state of emergency on Saturday, the county’s board posted via Facebook.
New York state Department of Transportation crews worked overnight to clear roadways in Chautauqua County and Jefferson County covered by heavy snow, where motorists have also been asked to stay home to give crews room to work. All commercial vehicles are banned on portions of I-90 in New York until further notice.
New York State Police helped at least 110 disabled vehicles from parts of western New York to the Pennsylvania state line between Thanksgiving and Sunday, officials said in a news release.
Two of the travelers needing help in the area were a man and his 64-year-old wife who were driving Friday for her heart transplant procedure when they became stranded in the snowstorm, according to the release.
Troopers helped get the woman to an airport away from the storm and she was flown to receive her transplant, officials said.
In the Buffalo area, the National Weather Service had an urgent message Saturday, “Delay all travel. If you must travel, drive with extreme caution.” The Buffalo region’s lake-effect snow warning continues through Monday night.
Meanwhile, snow covered the field of the open-air Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, where the Buffalo Bills are scheduled to play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night.
The Bills on Friday began requesting help from fans to clear the field of snow ahead of game time. Erie County officials in New York said Friday they do not anticipate the snowy conditions will affect the game.
Lake-effect snow is likely to fall through 4 p.m. ET Sunday over Orchard Park, according to the New York State Weather Risk Communication Center.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Gene Norman, Allison Chinchar, Artemis Moshtaghian, Taylor Galgano and Sam Joseph contributed to this report.
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