The wall of lake effect snow in Buffalo yesterday.

Not mine but it is really cool.

Nice save!

Nice save!

Nice save!

Cold air from the north moves over a large body of water which is (relatively) warmer and thus takes up warmth and humidity.

It then hits the cold shore, causing air temperatures to drop again as well. Colder air can carry less humidity, so it nearly instantly forms into heavy fog and clouds.

As air can move more swiftly over water than over land, it also gets "compressed" slightly upon hitting the shore, which can lead to the just-formed clouds to thicken up enough to cause heavy snowfall.

EDIT: what you see on this photo is the superhumid air condensing into fog and clouds.

Pretty much. Buffalo routinely gets hosed by blizzard conditions that don't usually affect the cities on the northern side of the same lake (Toronto, Mississauga, etc). It's feature of being on the south side of one of the Great Lakes.

I remember hearing about one year where Buffalo got 6 feet overnight, or some other complete bullshit.

Where my in-laws live in northern Quebec multiple companies offer driveway snow removal services where they send a large tractor. On one end is a large (expandable) blade that they use to pull the snow down to the street and on the other end is an auger they use to throw it up into the yard. They come multiple times to allow you to move cars or just keep up with ongoing snowfall.

I’ve never seen that anywhere else; is that a service in your area?

I'm angry. I can't unsee it, thank you very much.

Snowfiki

I LOVE Buffalo, I truly do.

Snow's fantastic. You just make sure you have food and booze. Most (keyword most) employment is accommodating. Apart from that you make sure the heater vent is clear, if it's a real fun one you might need to shovel the roof, but you prep to not go anywhere. OR the even MORE fun part is walking to the local bar.

That's for relatively warm lake effect. That all goes out the window if it's a truly brutal blizzard. Buffalo specifically had an ugly cold christmas a few years back that was absolutely brutal. People freezing to death leaving there cars looking for a house with someone home. Suspended emergency services. That was not the "fun" kind of snow storm.

Bay area, and same. I miss four seasons (Virginia is closest I've been so mild winters). The housing market, politics, and long term climate prospects of the northeast make it pretty damn appealing.

I'm in the Western Basin, and there os honestly no where i would rather be. Lake Erie may be a trash lake, but it's a beautiful trash lake that makes me appreciate life. There's a beauty here that speaks to me in a way only other Great Lakers can really understand.

It being snowy where you want to go is a ... Detriment?

A better question is why hasn't capitalism driven a market for mountain building for ski resorts?

Because not all of us are pussies that can't handle a bit of weather.

Rochester checking in - not Buffalo but sometimes we get similar amounts of snow. I love it. Snowmobiling is a thing everyone should do at least once in their lifetime, there is truly nothing else like it. I'm not talking the mountain riding through 10ft of powder like you see on IG or FB, even just normal trial riding on a couple feet of snow is incredible. You learn how to drive a car on it pretty quick, it's not that bad and the cities that typically get snow like this one are prepared for the amount of snow they get except in the most extreme circumstances. Ice fishing, skiing/snowboarding - snow just opens up a whole new set of fun wintertime activities

I absolutely adore Buffalo. I would live there anytime, if it wasn't part of the US. It's an incredible city.

It's honestly not that bad, assuming the power doesn't go out. Or that it's not followed up by freezing rain.

No one goes to work or school for a couple of days. People usually stock up on essentials in the days before the storm. (Milk, bread, butter, eggs... the old joke is that everyone has a sudden urge to eat French Toast.)

Plows usually start early, while the snow is still falling. Plow and salt crews work night and day. They're on call (and paid a stipend) during winter for this exact reason. The main streets are prioritized. Residential streets are going to wait a couple of days before they're clear. With nothing else to do, the adults start digging themselves out and helping their neighbors dig out. It's a hell of a workout and a good reason to check on elderly neighbors.

Basically, you wake up, say "fuck this shit," call in (or not, because your boss isn't at work), and go back to sleep for another few hours. Then you start digging.

A city that doesn't get that much snow can get overwhelmed, though. Mayor Mel famously called in the military to clear snow from Toronto back in 1998-ish. That was only a meter, but the city didn't have the resources to clear it - or more importantly - any free space to put it.

Buffalo though? Buffalo has their snow systems down.

When a large quantity of snow falls it gets cleared with huge plow trucks and heavy machinery, sometimes huge plows attached to the heavy machinery. Think enormous front loaders and stuff. Some places will load it into dump trucks and dump it into a body of water.

I live in VT and the most I’ve seen at once was 40” or so. But here it’s usually elevation dependent and the cities are in low valleys where they’ll get a few inches and the mountains 30 minutes up the road will get two feet.

Why is that community empty when I go there?