McTag wrote:I hope she's okay in Buffalo. Our newspaper yesterday showed a picture taken there, a man shovelling a two-foot deep fall. Seems a bit excessive? How long did it snow for?
I'm hoping for clearer weather because on the 27th I am planning to drive from NJ to Pennsylvania.
The snowstorm was not general in the northeast. Buffalo is in a unique position with regard to snowfalls. It sits at the eastern end of Lake Erie, and not very far south of the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The prevailing weather in winter is dominated by arctic air masses which come from the north and west. Therefore, there is such a thing as "lake effect snow." What that means is that the cold air causes the water evaporated from the lakes (and remember, they are "Great Lakes") to fall as snow in very large quantity in the southern and eastern shores of the lakes, in the direction in which the cold air masses are moving.
One year, ehBeth and i left Kingston one morning in winter. Kingston is at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. I shovelled snow before dawn when i arose. I shovelled snow again after the sunrise, at about 7:30 a.m. I shovelled snow again at about 9:00 a.m. before we left. When we arrived in Toronto, at the western end of Lake Ontario, the ground was completely dry--no snow at all.
Driving from New York to Pennsylvania (which takes less than two hours, although you may have much further to go in Pennsylvania) at this time of year involves little to no risk of encountering a heavy fall of snow. Keep in mind that Buffalo is at the opposite (northern end) of the State of New York from New York City (southern end), and on the eastern shore of Lake Erie.
