During the Winter of 1976-1977, a blizzard of great intensity swept across Buffalo, NY and the seven surrounding counties. Were the people of the area prepared? It is highly unlikely. Intense snow is hard to forecast due to the heaviest snow amounts falling in suprisingly narrow bands that are on a smaller scale than observing networks and forecast zones.(nsidc.org)
On January 28th at 5:00 AM, snow began to fall. Winds came from the South ahead of a strong cold front. During the late morning and early afternoon, temperatures fell 26 degrees in four hours. The blizzard reached its severity during the late afternoon with winds averaging 46 mph and gusts up to 69 mph. Wind chill reached 50-60 degrees below zero. This lasted on and off for the next three days.(wbuf.noaa.gov)
Buffalo, NY is the recipient of such large amounts of snowfall due to being east of Lake Erie. This immense body of water can turn into a snowmaking machine. This is commonly called "Lake Effect Snow".
There are three ingredients needed for this condition to take place:
1. Relatively warm water
2. Source of cold air; the location of Lake Erie between Canada and the United States places it in the path of strong arctic air masses that descend from the North. The heat and moisture from the lake rises into this arctic air and condenses into snow clouds.
3. Wind; since winds generally move from West to East, Buffalo receives constant flow of storm clouds.(Riverdeep.net)
Buffalo maintains the all time high record for snowfall in a single season at 199". Although this area was hit the hardest, others also received a taste of winter weather. Halfway across the world, Japan had record snow amounts that were responsible for the collapsing of over 200 roofs.(nsidc.org)
