Lake-Effect Snow — Northern Cayuga, New York

2022-01-07 to 2022-01-08 · Northern Cayuga, New York

Wider weather episode

A fast-moving area of low pressure dragged a cold front across the region. Windy conditions occurred behind the front with gusts in the 45-55 mph range. Cold air advection occurred behind the front, however it was slow and took awhile for lake-induced instability to get lake snows going. Further, a pronounced dry slot evolved such that the sun even came out. This slow cold advection and chunk of dry air took the bulk of Wednesday night to overcome. A southwest flow continued across the region with lake snows east of Lake Erie eventually organizing before sunrise Thursday. There were several hours of snowfall rates of 3 inches per hour at the Buffalo airport. The Skyway in downtown Buffalo was closed late morning and into the afternoon for poor visibility in snow. A lightning strike was recorded just to the west of Crystal Beach around noontime. Around 1-2 PM, the snow band lifted northward across the Northtowns and weakened some as it became slightly detached from the lake. Around 3-4 PM, the snow band started to settle back southward.

Off Lake Ontario, the lake effect snow band organized well around 9 AM. This band lifted northward from the Tug Hill to Watertown shortly after noontime. Snowfall rates were measured by a spotter of 3 inches per hour between 3:30 pm and 4:30 pm. The band of snow then dropped back and focused upon the Tug Hill by late afternoon, where it remained nearly stationary into the early evening hours.

Selected storm total snowfall amounts included 16.6 inches in Depew, 18.2 inches at the Buffalo airport, 19.8 inches in Watertown, 7 inches in Corfu, 16.5 inches in Cassadaga, 11 inches in Copenhagen, 13 inches in Fulton, 9 inches in Cato, and 14 inches in Little Valley.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1003792. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.