Heavy snowfall and numbing temperatures kept parts of the U.S. in a deep freeze Sunday as the Thanksgiving holiday weekend drew to a close. Some snowmobilers and skiers reveled in the wintry conditions, while flinty fans prepared for the NFL game in Buffalo.
Up to 46 inches (117 centimeters) of snow in upstate New York stopped Thanksgiving traffic on Sunday and sent the north of US in a winter chaos.
“We just keep digging out,” said Kevin Tyo, a local businessman. “We were out all day yesterday, plowing.” Like many locals, he has a plow attached to his truck for winter, “and I have a tractor with a bucket, and a snowblower.”
Lake-effect snow is caused when warm, moist air is blown across a body of water and mixes with colder, drier air, creating narrow bands of often heavy snow on land. Pileups can be quick: The U.S. military’s Fort Drum, near hard-hit Watertown, New York, issued an alert saying up to 19 inches (48 centimeters) of daytime snow fell on Sunday.
Commercial vehicles remained banned in both directions of I-90 in western New York along a nearly 134-mile stretch to the Pennsylvania line.
Buffalo Bills kickoff set for Sunday night
In Buffalo, officials with the NFL’s Bills had sought stadium snow shovelers for the season, including ahead of Sunday night’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. The team said it would pay $20 per hour and provide food and hot drinks.
The lake-effect storm began hitting the area Saturday near the Bills’ stadium in Orchard Park, New York. Snow was falling near the stadium hours ahead of the game.
“Snowfall totals will be highly dependent on whether the current lake-effect snow shifts just south of the stadium, or remains in place over the stadium longer,” the State Weather Risk Communication Center said on social platform X.
Another one to two feet (about 30 to 60 centimeters) of snow were possible in western New York, and another two to three feet were possible in northern New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said Sunday.
Stuck in a car overnight with kids
Christine Schintzius set out Friday on clear roads with her 4- and 8-year-old sons and 12- and 15-year-old nieces from Wales, New York, southeast of Buffalo. They planned to attend a hockey tournament in Cleveland but instead found themselves snowbound for 19 hours inside a Honda Pilot.
They faced seemingly endless lines of stopped traffic, first on Interstate 90 near the New York-Pennsylvania border for nine hours, and again on Route 5 in Pennsylvania for 10 hours, until residents plowed them out.
“It was packed, there was tons of people, tons,” Schintzius said by phone Sunday.
While stuck on Route 5, Schintzius never turned off her car, afraid it wouldn’t start again in the cold. Two truckers checked on them during the night. In the morning the police checked in, along with a resident who walked the line of cars handing out muffins and making sure the stranded drivers had water.
“Thankfully, all of my kids, my nieces, all travel well,” said Schintzius, who had packed a cooler with lunch meats, snacks, yogurt and fruit. “And luckily I had still basically a full tank of gas.”
When they were finally free of the backup Saturday, Schintzius took a roundabout route home, avoiding the worst of the snow that was still falling.
“I was worried, like, I’m not getting stuck in that ever again,” she said.
New York, Pennsylvania declare emergencies
A blast of Arctic air last week brought bitter temperatures of 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit below average to the Northern Plains, the National Weather Service said. Frigid air was expected to move over the eastern third of the U.S. by Monday, with temperatures about 10 degrees below average.
Officials in Erie, Pennsylvania, said Sunday the lake-effect snow had produced “treacherous” conditions that caused even snowplows to get stuck as they work around the clock. The city estimated about 100 cars throughout the city were blocking roads and needed to be towed out of the way of plows. Due to the snow emergency in the City of Erie, City Hall will be closed to the public on Monday and Tuesday.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a disaster emergency proclamation Saturday and said parts of Erie County in the northwest received nearly 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow, with more expected through Monday night.
Pennsylvania State Police responded to nearly 200 incidents during the 24-hour period from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday, officials said.
Michigan is battered, too
Parts of Michigan were battered by lake-effect snow as bands rolling off Lake Superior buried parts of the Upper Peninsula under 2 feet (61 centimeters) or more, said Lily Chapman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
There were 27 inches (69 centimeters) of snow northeast of Ironwood, in the Upper Peninsula’s western reaches. Over a foot (30.5 centimeters) could fall over the eastern Upper Peninsula through Monday morning, Chapman said Saturday.
Gaylord, Michigan, received 24.8 inches (63 centimeters) of snow Friday, setting a single-day record for the city in a region dotted by ski resorts.
Joseph Delizio, a meteorologist based in Gaylord, said heavy snow, especially lake-effect snow, isn’t unusual this time year, “but that magnitude certainly is not.”
A light dusting of snow fell across eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, making a beautiful backdrop for Christmas decorations and good practice for road crews.
Over the next few days, lows in the Appalachians are expected to dip between 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 to -7 degrees Celsius).
