Coldest blast in 2 years socks area
"I guess it's payback time for the winter we didn't get."
By VANESSA THOMAS and GENE WARNER
News Staff Reporters
2/5/2007
Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News
After only a few minutes in a store in East Aurora's Tops Plaza, Bill Wawro of Marilla tackles the snow that swiftly built up Sunday on his pickup. Related photos on the Picture Page, C10.
Click to view larger picture
Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
Joe Nagro jump-starts his daughter's car, parked in the frigid temperatures Sunday on Baynes Street.
Arctic wind blasts struck Western New York on Sunday, causing blinding white-outs that sent motorists spiraling into ditches and spinning out on roadways.
The treacherous mix of lake-effect snow and brisk winds, especially in the Southtowns, was blamed for numerous traffic accidents. No serious injuries or fatalities were reported.
A lake-effect snow warning was extended through this morning for Wyoming, Allegany and southern Erie counties. A wind chill advisory also remains in effect until Tuesday morning.
By Sunday evening, the snow had moved to southern Erie and the northern part of Chautauqua County, falling about 1 to 3 inches an hour. The snow band was expected to settle in those parts overnight and remain through this morning.
Buffalo Public Schools were closed today, according to spokeswoman Heather Groll. So were other schools in hard-hit areas.
Winds gusted to nearly 40 mph, and the official temperature bottomed out at 2 degrees at Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga. The wind made it feel more like 15 below.
It is the coldest weather Western New Yorkers have experienced in two years.
"I guess it's payback time for the winter we didn't get," said Bill Hibbert, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "By February, usually the lake has frozen up already. Since the lake hasn't frozen, we've got this large body of unfrozen water, and we're getting a lot more snow."
The Southtowns was especially hit hard. By mid-afternoon Sunday, Hamburg and Orchard Park were buried under 1
1/
2 to 2 feet of snow.
The Thruway was closed from Lackawanna to Dunkirk, in both directions, at 1:45 p.m. Sunday and remained closed at mid-evening.
State police recommended no unnecessary travel Sunday in the towns of Elma, Boston, Wales, Concord, Colden, Holland and Sardinia - particularly on wind-swept the north-south Aurora Expressway and Route 219. Driving bans were posted in the towns of Evans, Eden and Aurora.
The Aurora Expressway eventually was closed between Transit Road and Route 16, but the northbound lane reopened by evening.
In Orchard Park, 10 to 15 vehicles veered off the slippery roadways in a four-hour period Sunday morning, the majority on Route 219.
"It's white-out conditions," Orchard Park Police Officer Patrick Rizzo. "Zero visibility. Some of these motorists don't know what side of the road they're on."
Nancy Cassick said driving home Saturday night from Corfu to the Village of Lancaster took 2
1/
2 hours. The trip usually takes about 25 minutes.
"It was terrifying," said Cassick, 59. "You couldn't see the end of your car. You couldn't even see where the end of the road was."
Tom McLaughlin, executive director of the Buffalo City Mission, said both the City Mission and Cornerstone Manor, which cares for homeless women and children, were full Sunday.
The City Mission has a capacity of 200, while Cornerstone Manor can care for 122.
"At the mission, if we have people coming in even after we're full, we'll put mattresses on the floor," McLaughlin said.
At Cornerstone Manor, the overflow is referred to other agencies.
With such frigid conditions, neither facility turns away clients into the cold.
"We can't," McLaughlin said. "It's part of our core mission."
With temperatures moving into the single digits, those who run local shelters get a better idea of the dimensions of the homeless population. McLaughlin pointed out that under normal conditions, many people with mental illness or an addiction resist seeking help from a shelter.
"But when it gets really cold, they have to get out of the weather," he said. The snow was expected to stay south today, affecting areas south of Route 20, including Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and southern Erie counties. Today's forecast calls for a chance of snow showers with a high near 10 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph. Tonight the temperature is expected to drop to about 5 degrees
Little more on our storm. This will be the same tomorrow. Schools closed again.
Bless
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