A lake-effect storm that dumped more than 6 feet of snow in the Buffalo area trapped people on highways in an area where heavy snow is the norm for most of the winter. More than 2 to 3 feet is forecast to fall Thursday. Why was this storm so fierce? Some tales from the storm and tips on how to deal if you're caught in the next one:
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NOT QUITE A RECORD
The highest snowfall total for the Buffalo area this time was 65 inches, recorded in Cheektowaga. National Weather Service meteorologist David Church said that forecasters haven't determined yet how this storm ranks, but that 60 to 70 inches in 24 hours is probably in the top five for the region.
The heaviest 24-hour snowfall on record in the Lower 48 states is 75.8 inches, which fell at Silver Lake, Colorado, in 1921, according to the government.
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ABOUT THE LAKE EFFECT
The images were striking: a city awash in daylight, about to be overcome by a thick bank of snow rolling off Lake Erie. Lake-effect snow happens every year around the Great Lakes, so why was this bout in Buffalo so severe?
It's about timing and temperatures, said Patrick Burke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
Typically, convection draws moisture into the lower atmosphere as cold air moves across a relatively warmer lake, and winds carry the system ashore. This time the air was especially cold, Lake Erie is warmer than it would be later in the year, and the winds stretched the length of the 240-mile-long lake in the right direction, making for an even stronger snow dump that hit land and persisted for an unusually long period, about 30 hours.
"In this case, all of those factors have been maximized," Burke said.
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WELCOME TO THE WORLD
Bethany Hojnacki went into labor around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the height of the storm. Getting to a nearby hospital was impossible.
So her husband enlisted firefighters aiding a stuck motorist, who turned out to be a maternity nurse at the hospital, The Buffalo News reported. The nurse remained with Hojnacki for hours until a fire department vehicle arrived to take her to the hospital.
When that vehicle got stuck, firefighters took the woman to their firehouse, where baby Lucy was born around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, weighing in at 6 pounds and 2 ounces. Mother and baby were later taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
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A TEAM TRAPPED
Heavy snow stranded many motorists on the New York Thruway. Among them: the Niagara University women's basketball team. The team was coming back late Monday night from Pittsburgh when the squad was marooned for nearly 30 hours.
Players ran low on food and even melted snow for water, but local officials dropped off snacks and drinks. There were 25 players and coaches aboard the bus as well as coach Kendra Faustin's 1-year-old son.
The players kept their spirits up. They posted selfies from the bus, watched movies and caught the Duke-Michigan State men's basketball game on television Tuesday night. Other motorists came aboard the bus seeking shelter and bonded with the team.
"There's been no complaining at all. They've been joking around: I want a steak, I want a soft taco, a Slurpee," Faustin said. "There's definitely nothing in the coaching handbook to prepare you for this."
State troopers eventually picked them up and took them to a nearby police station where another bus was waiting.
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