As Buffalo Braces for a Whiteout Weekend, Residents Share Snippets of the Wild Weather Online
The lake-effect snow hitting western New York right now is no joke.
Cities in upstate New York, like Buffalo, are getting gobsmacked by winter weather and lake-effect snow.
The blizzard moved into the area on Thursday and in less than 24 hours the storm has managed to dump up to three feet of snow in parts of Eerie County, according to local reports from the National Weather Service.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warns the whiteout conditions will likely persist at a on-and-off rate throughout the weekend, meaning no area should see heavy snow consistently.
Even so, that's a lot of snow and upstate New York residents have taken the opportunity to share the wild winter weather online—and let's just say, from the looks of it, forecasters' predictions weren't that far off.
By Friday morning, social media sites like Twitter and TikTok were overrun with a flurry of videos and images of the seemingly nonstop snowfall.
Philip Lewis, an editor for HuffPost, shared a video of a phenomena known as "thundersnow" or essentially, a thunderstorm with winter weather, on Twitter, writing, "Very rare thundersnow in Buffalo, NY."
The area's football team, the Buffalo Bills, also shared an image of the impact the weather has had on their stadium–so far.
Buffalo Bills linebacker, Von Miller, also shared a video of what looked to be a car completely covered by snow.
"Good Morning Buffalo," he quipped.
Atmospheric scientist Dakota Smith shared a different type of video as–a view from space–as officials track the storm over the Great Lakes using radar.
Alongside the video, Smith added that this may be one of the most intense storms recorded, writing, "Wow. Seven hours of off-and-on lightning in Buffalo. One of the most prolific thundersnow events I've ever seen."
Storm chaser Sam Roback caught the thundersnow from a different angle, captioning the video "MASSIVE LIGHTNING STRIKE."
Meteorologist Jim Cantore shared a photo of the massive storm band, writing in part, "From the Niagara River north of Downtown Buffalo looking south at the snowband. This is what we just drove into."
Another meteorologist, Patrick Hammer, shared the shot from a different angle, describing it as a "Wall of snow, just south of Buffalo."
One TikToker, who started covering the storm as the flurries began to pile up last night, has since updated fans and shared a video of the accumulation–which is now up to their dog's belly–at 8 a.m. this morning.
So much snow has fallen so quickly, that even the plows are having a hard time keeping up with it, according to one TikTok video that showed one stuck in an embankment.
As the wild winter weather continues to come down, we expect even more unbelievable footage out of the area. Here's to hoping everyone is staying safe and warm as they ride out the rest of this storm!
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