Southern Tier socked with two feet of snow
Most of WNY escapes wintry blast that strikes Chautauqua, Cattaraugus
It was the biggest of snows. It was the least of snows.
Most of Western New York saw no snow at all Monday. But those areas that got it, they really got it!
Lake-effect squalls off Lake Erie and, to a lesser extent Lake Ontario, dropped 2 feet or more of heavy wet snow in parts of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties, bringing out plows and causing dozens of minor accidents.
Black ice was blamed for a 12- vehicle pileup that briefly closed the westbound lanes of Interstate 86 in the Town of Carrollton shortly after 5 p. m., the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office reported. There were no injuries.
A New York State Electric & Gas electrical substation malfunctioned at about 6 p. m. in Randolph, blacking out most of the village and nearby rural areas throughout the early evening.
In the heart of ski country — Ellicottville in Cattaraugus County — spotters measured 28 inches on the ground.
“Woo Hoo! Big Snow!” the Web site at Holiday Valley Ski Resort rejoiced Monday. “This certainly opens the possibility of an early opening, but we’ll know more later today or tomorrow. The issue is that the ground is very warm and wet underneath, and that lovely 28 inches packs down to about 6 to 8 inches with a very soggy bottom.”
Kissing Bridge in Glenwood in southern Erie County wasn’t as lucky. Its Web site lamented that only 2 inches of snow fell there Monday but promised that snowmaking would begin Monday night. Webcams from Peek ’n Peak in Clymer in Chautauqua County also showed snowmaking Monday night.
“About a foot fell in Springville,” the Kissing Bridge site reported. “We are just outside the lake snow band.”
As of late Monday afternoon, other places with deep snow included South Dayton in Cattaraugus County and Stockton in Chautauqua County, both with 20 inches, according to spotters reporting to the National Weather Service office in Buffalo.
Eighteen inches fell in Little Valley. Jamestown got 14.5 inches, while there was about a foot in Mayville.
Forecasters lifted the lake-effect snow warning early Monday evening but noted that lake snows, while less intense, would be more widespread through this afternoon, especially south of Lake Ontario. Two to 8 inches were expected, with heaviest snowfall from the lower Genesee
River Valley through the Finger Lakes. The weather station at Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga had only a trace Monday.
Snow also stayed away from the Buffalo Bills-Cleveland Browns football game at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, although wind chills were around 20 degrees.
Temperatures will hover near the freezing mark today across the region, while snowfall will vary from half an inch or less in the Buffalo metro area to a couple of inches elsewhere.
Snow showers stay in the forecast for the rest of the week, with daytime highs in the mid- 30s and overnight lows in the lower 20s.
