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FARGO — From Nov. 16 through Nov. 20, a band of heavy lake-effect snow focused its attention on the area around Buffalo, New York, producing crazy snow reports of as much as 80 inches. Lake-effect snow happens when cold air blows across a long fetch of open water that is much warmer. As the air blows across the warmer water, it warms and becomes more humid. This now unstable air rises rapidly, producing very heavy snowfall rates, often combined with thunder and lightning. The bands of snow tend to be very narrow, and so typically focus this heavy snow in a relatively small area over a relatively short time.
In this case, however, the wind lined up directly over the long, still-unfrozen Lake Erie, and changed very little over four days, resulting in the snow emergency. Erie County, in which Buffalo is located, received anywhere from 12 inches to more than 80 inches of snow during the blitz.
